


Nobody Wants Drama, Yet Here We Are

by VioletFoxViolaRose



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bullying, Drama & Romance, Explicit Language, Friendship, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Love Triangles, Mild Sexual Content, Multi, Teen Romance, Teenage Drama
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 21:08:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 34,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29988864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VioletFoxViolaRose/pseuds/VioletFoxViolaRose
Summary: Blaze is a sophomore in high school with a hopeless crush on Shadow the Hedgehog, a target on her back for bullies, and her good friend Silver, who unbeknownst to her has a crush on her. She inevitably gets swept up in a whirlwind of drama with the popular girls at her school and these two boys. High school AU. Primarily Shadaze/Silvase, with numerous other ships.
Relationships: Amy Rose & Blaze the Cat, Amy Rose/Sonic the Hedgehog, Blaze the Cat & Julie-Su, Blaze the Cat & Rouge the Bat, Blaze the Cat & Sally Acorn, Blaze the Cat & Sonic the Hedgehog, Blaze the Cat/Shadow the Hedgehog, Blaze the Cat/Silver the Hedgehog, Knuckles the Echidna/Rouge the Bat, Rouge the Bat & Shadow the Hedgehog, Sally Acorn/Monkey Khan, Silver the Hedgehog & Tikal the Echidna
Kudos: 2
Collections: Sonic, Sonic Fanfics





	1. Crushing and Crushed

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! 
> 
> This is a work in progress! Chapters are being updated regularly. New tags will be added as that content becomes relevant (to avoid spoilers). Enjoy!

The pen scratched across the margin of the lined page, forming the shape of a heart with the initials B.K. and S.H. in the center. The pen lifted from the paper, leaving yet another doodle on in the notebook. The owner of the notebook flipped to the next page and opened it to last night's homework.

"Okay, class, settle down," said the teacher. "Let's go over the lesson review. First question: How did the discovery of Mobian fossils and tools at Downunda affect existing theories of Mobian migration? Barbara?"

"Uh . . . It showed early Mobians moved to look for tool making materials?"

"Not quite. Ash?"

"I think I got it. It provided additional support for the theory that _Mobios sapientus_ first appeared in the Overland."

"Nope. Anyone have it?"

No one raised their hands.

"Okay, it looks like I'll have to pick someone random. Now, let's see . . . who's not paying attention? Ah! Miss Katba. Can you tell the class the answer?"

Blaze Katba looked up from her notebook. _Ugh, I hate when he does that,_ she thought. Luckily, she had done the reading and notes carefully last night. Advanced World History was no problem for her.

"It potentially placed the first _Mobios sapientus_ in a different location, and much earlier in time, than previously thought."

"Excellent! You have been paying attention. Well done!" the teacher said.

Blaze returned a small smile and bent over her notebook again. She tipped her head to one side and saw Shadow the Hedgehog looking at her. He gave her a thumbs up and mouthed, "Good job."

Blaze returned a smile and mouthed, "Thanks." She turned away and grinned into her notebook.

The rest of world history passed by fairly quickly. The bell rang, and Blaze gathered up her things. She started to head out of the classroom but stopped when she saw Shadow walking over to her.

"Hey Blaze," said Shadow. How're you doing?"

"Uh . . . " Blaze started, rapidly glancing around. Luckily, the room was empty except for the teacher. "I'm . . . pretty good. How're you?" she said cautiously.

"I'm doing good," replied Shadow, smiling at her. "Hey, I just wanted to ask, I hope you don't mind. Has anyone been giving you a hard time as of late?"

Blaze was mildly surprised. She figured it showed in her demeanor. _Yeah_ , thought Blaze. _Literally everyone._ Despite wishing to tell Shadow this, she wanted to look as good as possible in front of him. "Nah, not really."

Shadow blinked, surprised by the passive nature of her response. "But Blaze, the rumors . . . They're still out, aren't they? I've tried tuning them out, but it's becoming increasingly harder to do so."

Blaze winced. _Shit, he knows,_ she thought. _They won't stop! I hope he doesn't believe them . . ._

"Eh well, I suppose they are, but there isn't really anything you can do about it," she replied.

Shadow's eyebrows knit together. "There must be something I can do," he suggested.

Blaze shook her head. "You can't control what people think or say," she told him simply.

"But Blaze, people are calling you nasty things. Don't you want them to stop?"

"Yes, but like I said: Truly stopping anyone from thinking or saying anything is impossible. It hurts, but there's nothing you or I or anyone can do."

Shadow slowly nodded, frowning. "Yeah," he agreed. "I don't want you to be right, but you are. I guess."

He slung his backpack over his shoulder. "Well, that's all I really had to say. Take care Blaze," he said, raising his right hand in departure.

"Yeah, you too," Blaze replied, giving him a small wave.

Once Shadow had left the room, Blaze's knees almost gave out, and her breathing became rapid. _Oh my God,_ she thought. _I can barely talk to him. I must have sounded idiotic. And the stuff I said about not being able to control others. He probably thinks I'm nuts. Oh God . . ._ Blaze took a deep breath and exited the history classroom.

Walking through the crowded hallways, Blaze braced herself for a slew of demeaning comments, insults, or whispers about her, but for a while, nothing happened. She almost made it to the stairwell, but stopped when she heard a boy call out, "Hey Katba!"

Blaze slowly turned around, and to her dismay saw a gaggle of junior boys.

"Heard you're a dancer, Katba!" said their ringleader. "Five bucks for a topless round on the flagpole?" The other boys whooped and laughed.

Blaze felt her face flush with embarrassment and anger. "I'm not that kind of dancer!" she shouted angrily.

One of the other boys put on a mask of mock apology and kindness. "Yeah you bastards, she isn't a pole dancer, so don't call her that!" The other boys looked at him with mild confusion. "She's _obviously_ a tabletop go-go dancer! How 'bout ten to shake that thang?"

The other boys laughed, and Blaze turned and stormed off down the stairwell. She heard their voices behind her mocking her.

" _What a prude!_ " " _She thinks she's so pure!_ " " _Bet she's actually danced at all the clubs!_ " " _Still couldn't pay me to get with her though, she's not_ that _hot!_ "

Blaze hurriedly turned the corner out of the stairwell and collided with a girl, sending the two of them sprawling to the ground.

"Sorry!" Blaze cried, scrambling to pick the other girl's books up off the floor. She froze when she saw who the other girl was.

"Claire!" she yelped, in response to Claire's icy stare. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry, I—"

"Ugh, get away from me whore!" she shouted in anger

Blaze's mouth fell open, but Claire cut her off. "Save it. I don't associate with unfaithful sluts like you."

A small crowd had formed around Blaze and Claire, and they erupted into laughter and "oohs" when they heard that remark. Blaze pushed her way through the crowd, keeping her head down to avoid being captured further on photo and video.

Blaze violently twisted a lock of hair around her index finger, her standard stress response when she was being harassed. As Blaze passed another group of guys, she heard one yell out, "Hey Blaze, what's your OnlyFans? I've got disposable income!"

"I don't have an OnlyFans!" Blaze shot back. "I don't do sex work!" _Why do they always assume I do that sort of thing?_ she thought bitterly

"Suuuuuurrrrre!" another one jeered. "Betcha her parents are sponsoring it, their broke asses really need the cash you make!"

"Send nudes for me babe?" jeered another.

Blaze ignored them, fighting back tears, and made her way to her last class of the day: 10th grade English. Blaze entered the class reluctantly. Selena Brenig, one of the most popular girls in school (and one of her primary tormentors), was in this class. Blaze sat down in her seat, pulled out her textbook, and out of the corner of her eye saw Selena pull out a model of the most recent iPhone and aim it at her.

_Oh, joy. Another appearance on Snapchat. That is surely the cherry on top of the shit sundae today has been,_ Blaze said to herself.

English passed by quickly, mainly because Blaze couldn't focus on the lesson. As soon as the bell rang, Blaze stuffed her books into her bag and stood up. The next thing she knew, she felt herself racing towards the linoleum floor, and made contact with it. She looked up; standing over her was Selena and her phone.

"Oops," giggled Selena, smirking. She stepped over Blaze, making sure to grind her Prada flip-flops into Blaze's fingers.

Blaze pulled herself up and hurried out of the classroom to head to her afternoon homeroom class. She willed herself to ignore any comments thrown her way, as she was just _done_ with everyone and everything today. She did see people pointing, whispering, and laughing, however, and it still stung. She could never escape it.

_It really fucking sucks so much! I hate this so much!_

She arrived in room C200, her classroom where homeroom was held. She slumped into a desk and tuned out the announcements her teacher was talking about. It probably wasn't that important anyway and she was trying not to cry.

Finally, after a long 10 minutes, the final bell rang, and Blaze jumped out and raced out of Station Square High School to the carpool entrance. She sat in front of one of the pillars and tried to tune out the surrounding people with _State of Fear_ , her most recent foray into the world of science fiction novels. Surprisingly, it worked. Finally, after ten minutes, her Aunt Monica pulled up in her tan Chevy Impala.

"Hello Blaze," greeted her aunt. "How was school?"

Blaze inhaled deeply. "Fine. Nothing interesting to report," she replied.

Her aunt nodded. "Ready for dance practice? Your bag is in the back."

"Yup."

Blaze stared out the window, watching the trees and other cars pass by. She hadn't told either her aunt or her uncle about what was happening at school, even though it had been happening since the last quarter of her freshman year. _Had it not been for summer_ , she reflected, _I probably would be borderline suicidal_. Blaze was normally pretty tough, but when the bashing started up again after summer vacation, her tough demeanor quickly crumbled.

After about 15 minutes, Blaze and her aunt pulled up to the Swanson Dance Studio. Blaze grabbed her dance bag out of the car and hurried inside to the dressing rooms, which were luckily empty. She quickly slipped out of her street clothes and into her leotard, tights, and jazz slippers. She also threw on her warm-up sweater and jazz pants before anyone came into the dressing room.

Blaze danced the jazz method of dance, and today she was practicing with her jazz troupe for their upcoming fall recital. She never really liked dancing with the girls at her studio, since she barely knew any of them, and wasn't friends with anyone there. She also had a suspicion that her fellow jazz dancers thought she was weird. However, Blaze didn't dance for the social atmosphere. Blaze loved to dance, and had been dancing jazz method since she was eight.

Blaze hurried into the studio, rolled out her warm-up mat, and began to stretch, ready to take on her instructor's routine.

* * *

"Lift . . . 7, 8, 1, 2 . . . hold . . . and pose! Excellent girls, that'll be all tonight. Due to an upcoming family event of mine, Thursday's practice is canceled. See you next week!" Mrs. Gladden's cheerful voice piped up over the ending bars of the upbeat music.

Blaze noisily exhaled and stepped out of the dance's final pose. The ten other girls also broke pose and began to exit the studio, chatting excitedly. Blaze remained silent as she always did, and slipped into her jeans. She threw her warm-up sweater over her leotard, grabbed her dance bag, and hurried out into the lobby to wait for her aunt to pick her up. She didn't like remaining in her leotard after dance practice but hated changing in the dressing rooms, which had zero privacy.

She met up with her aunt, threw her bag into the back of her aunt's car, and hopped into the passenger seat. Except for asking her aunt what was for dinner (broiled chicken and roasted potatoes), she remained silent. She checked Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat for any updates. There wasn't anything interesting or important. She saw two stories on Snapchat that featured her in it, one just after she collided with Claire Voyance and another in English at the hands of Selena. She sighed.

"Something eating you?," asked Aunt Monica.

"No, I'm just tired is all," Blaze replied, not wishing to divulge her true grievances.

After about 10 minutes, Aunt Monica pulled up at their house. It was a decently sized suburban home, with little to report as interesting. Yet, it was a cozy home, with plenty of space for Blaze and her aunt and uncle. Blaze entered her house by the garage and hurried up to her room. She shut the door, threw her bag on the ground, changed out of her dance apparel and into her sweats, and flopped onto her double bed. She let out a frustrated sigh.

"Ughhhhhh . . . Why is my life falling apart again?" she asked out loud to no one in particular.

She lay on her bed for a few minutes, stewing in her negative emotions. Even though her brain told her not to, she pulled out her phone and opened Twitter while simultaneously getting out her Advanced World History textbook and notebook to do her daily reading. She scrolled through her feed, liking a few of her friends' tweets. She then checked her notifications, and saw she was mentioned in a tweet . . . by Selena Brenig.

_Oh no,_ she thought. She hesitated for a moment before tapping on the notification. The tweet from Selena Brenig read:

**oh my god guys, you HAVE to check out my snap story. there's some HILARIOUS shit on there** **N_Midnight_**

Blaze sighed. This was the eighth time she had been tagged by Selena in one of her tweets that showcased her in a negative light. It was humiliating and only fueled the fire for her schoolwide mockery. She was sick of it. Suddenly angry, she tapped on Selena's profile, and tapped "Send Private Message."

Inhaling, she typed out a message for Selena.

_**Hi Selena, can you stop calling me out in your stupid harassment posts?** _

Without a second thought, she tapped send. She closed Twitter and started taking notes. Five minutes later, she heard her phone ping. She checked it and saw that Selena had responded to her message. She quickly unlocked her phone and tapped on the notification.

_**haha** _

_**no :)** _

Blaze felt her face flush in frustration. She tapped out a reply.

_**Why not? Haven't you gotten enough out of you posting about me on sc?** _

She stared at her screen as she watched Selena open her message and start replying.

_**its too funny lollllll** _

_**besides, i think all of my followers deserve to know how much of a stupid bitch you are** _

Blaze felt a knot form in her stomach. She put her phone down and tried to go back to her notes, but couldn't focus with Selena's last message unanswered. She picked up her phone once again and typed out an angry message.

_**The only bitch here is you Selena** _

She went back to her notes, feeling even more upset than before. A few minutes fairly unproductive minutes later, she heard her phone chime once more. Robotically picking up her phone, she saw Selena's reply.

_**and you're a whore** _

_**what're you gonna do about it?** _

Hot tears stung Blaze's eyes. She let her tears of embarrassment and sadness fall silently.

_Great. I've embarrassed myself again. I bet she's gonna post this chat on Twitter or Snapchat. Probably Snapchat._

She took a few silent minutes of crying before getting up what little nerve she had left and typing out her reply.

_**I should report you to the principal** _

Wiping her eyes, she groaned as she saw Selena swiftly open her message and typing out a reply.

_**you can't hahaha** _

_**everyone will tear you to shreds** _

_**and that's a promise** _

_**now leave me alone** _

Feeling sufficiently defeated, Blaze closed Twitter, set her phone to "Do Not Disturb," locked it, and plugged it into to charge.

_She's right. Even if I get her, Alysha, and Fiona to stop, no one else will. I can't report the entire student body for harassment._

Blaze sighed and went back to note-taking, trying and failing to erase the memory of the conversation she had just had. Despite this, Blaze pushed through and managed to read eight pages of her textbook before she heard her aunt come upstairs and knock on her door.

"Blaze? It's time to eat."

"I'll be down Auntie," she replied.

After a pleasant dinner with her aunt and uncle, some brief help with dishes, and the completion of her World History notes and other homework, Blaze felt much better. She glanced at her alarm clock, which read 7:47.

_I'm gonna see if Silver wants to play Zombies on Black Ops III,_ she thought.

She hopped onto her gaming PC: her pride and joy. She saved money up from holidays, birthdays, and doing odd chores to buy the PC, and was lucky to have help from her uncle with buying the monitor and other peripherals.

She opened up Discord and checked his status. He happened to be online, so she went to her chat with Silver (or "YeetusMyFeetus") and quickly sent him a message.

_**hey** _

_**wanna play COD?** _

_**Black Ops III to be exact** _

After a moment, she saw Silver enter the chat and respond.

_**sure** _

_**custom zombies, or something else?** _

Blaze replied with "zombies, " grabbed her headset, and opened up voice chat with Silver.

"Yo Blaze, what's up?" Silver's chill but perky voice asked.

"Uh, well, I haven't exactly had the best day," Blaze admitted. "The usual: bothered for existing, rumors, a run-in with Selena."

"Oh, I'm sorry Blaze," Silver said sympathetically. "Want me to shoot you a bunch of times to ease the pain?"

Blaze felt her eyebrows raise. "I'd rather shoot a bunch of zombies to ease my pain."

"You know what? I respect that."

"Yeah, you better respect me and my feelings, you asshole," Blaze chirped in a joking manner.

"Think you'll actually do alright this time? Last time we played you didn't exactly do great," He laughed. "Might as well have been a zombie."

"Well, you know what they say," Blaze said, opening up _Call of Duty: Black Ops III_. "Hell hath no fury when a woman is upset." She opened up a private Zombies room and waited for Silver to join.

Silver laughed. "You ready to go? I submitted a pretty good map for us to use."

"Yup," Blaze chimed, entering the round with Silver.

The world then dissolved away as Blaze became engrossed in the bloody cooperative play, mowing down hordes of zombies, laughing, and groaning at losses alongside Silver. In the virtual carnage, Blaze let off steam, laughed alongside Silver, and did some ranting.

"It's just . . . I dunno man. I'm getting sick of the bashing. I can't so much as poke my head into the school or onto my social media without being assaulted with a slew of remarks about how I'm such a slut," Blaze heard herself say as she upgraded her pistol to a far superior shotgun and shot down a zombie that was too close for comfort.

"I'm sick of it too. I can see it really affects you," he replied genuinely. "There's got to be something I or you or anyone else can do."

"Well, I honestly just want the rumors to stop. But that's, like, virtually impossible."

"Even if you tell the staff of the school?"

"Yeah, man. They'd punish Alysha and her posse of bitches, but they can't stop everybody. Besides, I'm sure Alysha and Company would find some way to get back at me if I told on them."

There was a brief moment of silence as Silver focused on trying to stop a massive horde of zombies (he failed), and ran for cover. "So, you think this'll ever end? Or will this just last forever?"

Blaze paused and sighed. "I honestly don't know at this point. It might. I might end up graduating as 'the cat that fucked the football team' or something fucking stupid like that." She could feel her throat begin to tighten ever so slightly and took a deep breath to steady herself.

Silver sighed into his mike, crackling through Blaze's headset. "Blaze . . . " he began.

"Yeah Silver?"

She heard Silver trail off suddenly. "Nevermind," he replied.

The two of them played in silence for a few moments before Blaze's avatar on-screen collapsed in a virtual pool of blood, eliciting a loud "FUCK" from Blaze.

"Aah, hold on Blaze, I'm coming to revive you, I'll be there in a sec—"

There was a brief pause on Silver's end, followed by loud swearing. The screen went dark and said, "Round Over."

"Shit! Sorry, Blaze! I just got jumped by a crowd of 'em. I promise I was coming to revive you."

"Nooooooo, we were doing so good!" whined Blaze. "Goddamnit."

The screen flashed to show the game's stats. Under the "Kills" column, the stats screen stated that Blaze had received 78 kills, and Silver had received 80.

"Dammit, you beat me again in number of kills," Blaze lamented.

"Haha! Beat that, bitch!" Silver shouted triumphantly. "I _told_ you you couldn't beat my stats!"

"Oh shut the hell up you dick. The only reason you beat me, by only two kills might I add, is cause you got lucky! I'm gonna kick your ass next round!" Blaze retorted.

The two of them shared a brief moment of laughter and trash-talking, and Blaze felt a rush of warm happiness come over her at that moment.

"Silver?"

"Yeah, Blaze?"

"Thanks for being such a good friend Silver. I'm sorry I always manage to make our conversations about me ranting about my problems and—"

"Stop right there Blaze," Silver replied. "It's . . . it's okay. It really is. And, uh, no problem at all. Y'know, in regards to the good friend thing."

Blaze smiled to herself. "Thanks again you doof."

The two of them played a few more rounds with varying successes before Blaze glanced at the clock on her computer, which read 10:51.

"I gotta get to bed," Blaze stated after their last round ended.

"Alright," replied Silver. "See you soon?"

"Yeah, lunch tomorrow."

"Okay cool. Take care Blaze," Silver said.

"You too!" Blaze said cheerily, before disconnecting from the voice chat.

Blaze yawned and stretched, put her computer into hibernate mode, and stepped away from it. She glanced at her alarm clock on her end table.

_Damn, it's almost eleven. I should get to bed._

Blaze was already in her sleeping pair of sweats, so she headed to her bathroom to wash her face, brush her teeth, and comb her hair. On her way to her bed, she glanced at her reflection in her full-length mirror.

_Ugh,_ she sighed. _I wish I wasn't so goddamn . . . how do I describe it . . . oh yeah, curvy. I should be a lot slimmer since I dance. Maybe if I was just a bit skinnier, people wouldn't call me a slut. I've tried dieting, but nothing really works._ She sighed again. _Maybe I'm just stuck this way . . ._

Shaking her head in resignation, Blaze climbed into bed, picked up _State of Fear_ , and read until she couldn't keep her eyes open (about 30 minutes) before curling up under her comforter and falling asleep.

⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤ END ⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤


	2. A New Day

The calm of the morning was abruptly shattered by the sound of sharp rapping against Blaze's door, followed by the sound of her aunt's voice telling her to get up. Blaze stirred and pulled herself upright silently, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. When Blaze didn't respond to her aunt, her aunt knocked again.

"Blaze? Blaze honey, it's time to get up!"

Blaze groaned, "I'm up and awake!"

Blaze threw back her comforter, kicked out her legs, and stretched while letting out a wide, satisfying yawn. She slumped out of her bed onto the floor, walked over to her windows, opened her blinds, and then made her way over to her full-length mirror. She looked at her reflection, bleary-eyed and visibly exhausted.

_It's so unrealistic, but I_ really _wish I could wake up looking somewhat pretty. Y'know, to make me feel a bit better about myself._

She snapped out of her trance-like state and walked to her bathroom to start her usual morning routine: taking her shower, washing her face, debating and ultimately deciding against wearing makeup, starting her hairstyling routine, getting dressed, and finishing up her hair. Today, Blaze was wearing a loose-fitting gray and floral shirt; a fingertip length pair of plain denim shorts; a pair of brown socks with pink ribbon accents; black Converse sneakers; a pair of small gold hoop earrings, her favorite gold necklace, and a simple watch with a black strap. Her purple hair was in her usual style, tied back in a ponytail, and was decorated with a red scrunchie. She checked herself out in her mirror once more and decided it was acceptable for school. As she was doing this, she heard another knock on her door.

"Blaze? Your breakfast is ready," said her aunt.

"Okay, I'll be down Auntie," Blaze replied.

Blaze hurried downstairs and into the kitchen. Waiting for her on the table was a slice of whole-wheat toast with peanut butter and a mixed berry smoothie. Aunt Monica was drinking her own while finishing getting ready for work.

"Eat up, okay?" Aunt Monica chirped. "I've left you some lunch money on the counter next to the stove."

"Thank you, Auntie," Blaze replied, sitting down. She quickly began to eat her toast while watching the morning local news from the kitchen table. Blaze's aunt finished grabbing her things while throwing on her suit jacket. When she was finished, she came over and gave Blaze a hug. "Love you Blaze."

"Love you too Auntie," Blaze replied, her mouth full of toast. She washed her bite down with smoothie as she heard her aunt exit the house.

Blaze glanced at the clock, which read 6:45. _Crap,_ she thought. _I've got to get going_.

She gulped down the last of her smoothie, repressing the developing brain freeze, and sprinted upstairs to brush her teeth and grab her bag. She sprinted downstairs, placed her dishes in the dishwasher, and sprinted out the front door at 6:50 sharp.

She started her walk through her cul-de-sac down to her bus stop, and as she started her walk down, she looked out of the corner of her eye and saw a certain someone exiting his house . . . Shadow the Hedgehog!

Shadow, by some stroke of luck, happened to live in her cul-de-sac! She never interacted with him outside of the very few moments in school, but still . . . at least it left opportunities for communication in the future. For now, though, Blaze couldn't risk it. She wished to speak to him over the summer, but due to a combination of shyness and fear for his and her own reputation, she never did, and she didn't see it happening anytime soon. However, no one else from her school appeared to live near them, so they still interacted nonverbally. During the summer, they frequently waved to each other if they saw each other outside. Now, during the new school year, Shadow left for school in his pickup truck around the same time Blaze left to catch her bus, and she got to wave to him as he passed by in his truck. She did this just now, remembering to shoot him a smile as well.

As soon as his truck turned out of the cul-de-sac, Blaze heaved a heavy sigh. The bus was pretty bad. No one could actively do anything to her due to the security cameras on the bus, but she could feel their judgemental stares and hear them whispering about her from the back. She hated it. Her uncle couldn't take her to school, as he left for work very early in the morning. Her aunt could take her in, but both Blaze and her aunt would be late or nearly late every single day, which just wasn't viable. She wished she could hitch a ride to school with Shadow, but that could never happen. Not in a million years. Shadow was pretty popular, especially with the girls. And who could blame them? He was tall, had a handsome face and strong jawline, that short haircut all hot guys seemed to have, and expressive (also endearing) facial expressions despite his aloofness. He played football, basketball, and ran track. He was also fairly smart, even if he didn't show it. He was the mysterious heartthrob every girl in the school, popular and unpopular, wanted, Blaze included.

Because of his insane popularity, many girls watched him from the second he pulled into the junior parking lot, and because of _that_ , her coming into school with him would jeopardize his reputation, which she couldn't bring herself to do. Not to mention what the school would do to her . . . The bus was the best option for her.

She stared into space, pondering this situation when she heard the familiar sound of a diesel engine approaching her street corner. She lifted her head up and saw the dreaded bus. She took a deep breath and slowly climbed on to the bus. Keeping her head down to avoid the stares from her peers, she quietly slid into a front seat. The doors slid shut, the bus lurched forward, and Blaze began her ride to hell.

* * *

Blaze noisily exhaled and shut her locker. Today had been a solid meh so far. Just your typical Thursday: waved to Shadow on her way to school, zoned out due to boredom in her chemistry class, got left behind in her geometry class, and dodged stares between classes. Now, she stopped by her locker to pick up her French-English dictionary for her French 200 class. Blaze stretched, yawned wide, shut her locker, and turned around, only to come face to face with a girl she recognized and hated.

"Surprise!" she said in an oozingly sweet voice. It was Alysha Linehan, the most popular girl in school. Alysha was the dream girl at Station Square High. She was very rich and threw the biggest, wildest parties (at least according to the rumor mill; Blaze had never been to one for obvious reasons). Alysha was also considered by many to be a very pretty girl, with nearly flawless skin and gorgeous auburn hair with rich curls. Alysha was sweet and funny around her friends and the highest echelons of the school, primarily in the junior class. However, she also had a _very_ trashy side. She was a gossip, spreading rumors consisting of both truths and falsehoods for her and her friend circle's entertainment. Alysha knew she was the most popular and made sure the school's rumor mill pushed her to the very top and kept others under her. She was also well known for bullying others (like Blaze), but people still liked her anyway . . . Alysha was most certainly the reason the "gingers are from Hell" stereotype existed, in Blaze's mind.

Today, Alysha was flaunting her expensive fashion tastes by wearing a black tank top under a blue jean jacket, black designer leggings (they looked like the wildly popular Lululemon brand), and blue, over-the-knee boots. The squirrel had a falsely sweet smile on her face, the face she made when she had a bone to pick with somebody.

Blaze stepped back instinctively but was stopped by the wall of lockers. She looked to her left and right to see if she could get away, but two other girls she despised were blocking her. All three of them stood tall with their arms crossed looking condescendingly down at Blaze as if she was a piece of old chewing gum stuck on the bottom of their shoes.

The girl on Alysha's left was Selena Brenig, a silvery hedgehog. Selena was the most popular sophomore girl and one of the most popular girls in school. Like all of the most popular girls, she was good-looking, rich, had a good fashion sense, and was highly social. However, she was most well known for her beauty, to the point where she had competed in a few beauty pageants and was considered by many to be "stunning," "gorgeous," and "a goddess." That goddess part was a stretch in Blaze's mind (and in many other people's minds as well). She was highly catty and obsessive with some of the most shallow drama and issues in existence. She was also a brat, bullied others, and could get physical. Her flowing blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes, and wide smile did not hide her disgusting interior to Blaze.

Selena clearly took a painstaking amount of time into her outfit today (as usual), as she was wearing a pink, sleeveless turtleneck with white skinny jeans, a red patent leather belt, and red canvas high-tops. Selena looked downright pissed, as if she was about to grab Blaze by her neck and throttle her.

The girl on Alysha's right was Fiona Gallagher. Fiona was an interesting girl, someone that on initial glance seemed like she should not be popular, especially when compared to the other popular girls. True, she was pretty like her best friends, but otherwise different. She was heavily "rough around the edges," and both dressed and acted that way. She hung around a lot of guys when compared to her two best friends, possibly because she was rumored to be "the best time ever." She was also blunt, with a no-nonsense attitude. This, however, also gave her a razor-sharp tongue to harass people she ridiculed. She also had a _stash_ of gossip for anyone that wanted it (possibly obtained through questionable means; she was rumored to have a delinquent record). All of these factors made Fiona a very questionable candidate for one of the most popular girls in school, but here she was.

Fiona wore intense, aggressive makeup when compared to her other two friends, and was wearing her long, artificially colored bright red hair with yellow ends back in a neat ponytail. She was dressed in a black baby doll T-shirt; blue, hipster bootcut jeans; and silver leather platform sneakers. Fiona looked like she had somewhere to be and was just there because she wanted to see drama. Blaze wished she hadn't come along; she had to admit the fox intimidated her.

"So Blaze, how's the guy chasing going? Ya catch one yet?" Alysha started. She gave a snort. "Like anyone would let you come anywhere near them."

"Who are you after this time?" Fiona quipped.

"Shadow the Hedgehog, maybe?" Selena slowly said through gritted teeth. She gave Blaze a firm push backward.

"I'm not 'after' anybody," Blaze replied, trying to stay calm and not doing a very good job, her voice becoming hoarse as her throat dried up.

"Psh, she's obviously lying," Fiona replied. "The slut can't control that funny feeling in her clit, so she's gotta run after someone and beg them to put their dick in her."

The other two laughed as Blaze felt her cheeks burn with indignation. She opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by Alysha.

"I heard that you and Shadow have been talking with each other lately. Is this true?" she quizzed, cocking her head to one side.

"As . . . As friends . . . " Blaze managed to spit out.

Selena stepped forward. "Listen here, you dirty slut. Shadow the Hedgehog is mine, got it? I know your kind. You guys say you're "just friends" with a guy, and then all of a sudden you're fucking. That isn't going to happen this time. I'm gonna be his girl, you got that?"

"I'm not . . . I don't . . . I . . . " Blaze trailed off.

"Got that?" Selena repeated, stepping forward.

Blaze couldn't summon the words she wanted to say, choking on them instead. Her eyes darted back and forth between all three girls, looking for a means of escape and not finding any. A small crowd had started to form around them, making the situation far tenser for Blaze. Alysha, Selena, and Fiona had physically harassed Blaze before, and this appeared to be escalating to that point. Blaze was bracing herself for the feeling of her body being slammed up against the lockers and the jeers of the surrounding crowd when a strong voice cut through the din of the situation.

"HEY!"

The entire crowd and the three girls stopped and turned their heads in the direction of the voice, much to Blaze's surprise. Sure, the voice was loud, forceful, and sudden, but who would care? Who would try to stop the three most popular girls in school? She craned her neck to see who it was, and her eyes went wide.

It was Shadow!

Shadow stepped forward and spoke firmly. "Leave her alone! She hasn't done anything to you!"

"You don't know that," Alysha said in response. "Why do you care?"

"I care because I'm actually a nice person, unlike you three. I don't like seeing others harassed for no reason."

The crowd murmured, and Blaze heard a few "oohs." The three girls exchanged glances with one another. Shadow was a _very_ popular guy, one of the most popular in the school; Alysha, Selena, and Fiona couldn't do much to him. Furthermore, Selena had an obvious crush on him. Even though she had been rejected by him a week or so back, she kept up her pursuit as if it had never happened. Her ego could still be damaged though; a fine blush had formed on her cheeks during this confrontation. Selena leaned towards Alysha and whispered furiously into her ear. Alysha spoke up once more.

"You know what? You're right," Alysha said insincerely. "We'll leave Blaze alone, okay? Just let us do our own thing otherwise. We don't tell you what to do. Come on girls, let's get out of here," Alysha finished to her girls.

The other two nodded, and the crowd parted to let them quickly walk through and away. As they were leaving, Selena turned and blew Shadow a kiss before turning and hurrying to catch up with Alysha and Fiona.

With the bulk of the drama gone, the crowd dispersed as the warning bell for third period rang. Blaze shook her head and was preparing to continue to French 200 when she looked up and saw Shadow walking directly, unmistakably towards her. Her feet locked up again. _What is he doing?!_ she thought. _We're in public! Others can see us! Shadow!_

Before she could hurry away, he was directly in front of her, closer than he had been than ever before. It was insane enough he had called out the three most popular girls in school directly, especially for an unliked sophomore, but he was clearly planning on engaging directly with Blaze. Blaze felt herself sharply intake her breath.

"Hey, Blaze," Shadow's smooth voice spoke. "Are you okay?"

"Uh . . . yeah, yeah, I'm okay," she said rapidly, her voice rising in pitch.

"You sure?" he questioned, to which Blaze rapidly nodded her head in response, in fear of her voice cracking.

"Good," he said. "I hate seeing those bitches harass others and you. I'm glad I could chase them off before they could do anything for you. I was looking for you actually, and I'm glad I caught you."

_He was looking for me?! Why? What for? Oh my god . . ._ Blaze felt her heart pounding in her ears. She tried to steady her furiously pumping heart slamming against her chest. "Oh?" she said, her voice starting to squeak again.

"I overheard Alysha, her bitches, and her boyfriend Scourge talking. They were gonna prank you on your way out to your bus."

Blaze blinked. "What were they going to do?" she asked, feeling as though she might regret asking that question.

Shadow shook his head. "It's better you don't know. It was gonna be pretty bad."

"Oh. No surprise there," was Blaze's only comment.

Shadow nodded. "Yeah. I can't believe they'd do this shit to someone who just . . . " He paused, clearly carefully thinking about his choice of words. " . . . Isn't worthy of mockery. I mean, no one is, but . . . ah fuck, I can't speak today. I'm sorry."

Blaze gave a small laugh. "It's okay," she said, relaxing a bit.

Shadow cleared his throat. "Ah, anyway. I came to ask you something."

Blaze felt her heart leap into her throat. Her brain started to race. That calm feeling that was there a moment ago? Gone. "O . . . Oh?" she squeaked.

Shadow continued. "Because of the whole prank thing the school bitches are planning, I was wondering if you'd like to hitch a ride home with me so you can avoid the bus. You know, since we're neighbors and everything."

Blaze froze. _Oh. My. God. Did he actually just offer to drive me home? He did! Oh my God!_

Blaze couldn't think of the words to say. Her thoughts were a blur of shock and disbelief.

"Uh, Blaze?"

Shadow's slightly confused voice snapped Blaze out of her stunned state. She quickly glanced around to see if Alysha, Selena, Fiona, or any of their friends were around. They didn't appear to be, so she turned back to Shadow and said, "Oh yeah, of course! That'd be great."

Shadow gave his trademark smile, slight but kind, and replied, "Great. Where can I meet you?"

"After homeroom?"

"Yeah. Where's your homeroom class?" Shadow asked.

Blaze quickly snapped out of the shock and excitement of the moment and remembered an important caveat: no one could see them together. Doing this was . . . risky enough. Blaze couldn't be seen with Shadow for much longer out here, nor when they were leaving the school. She would surely get bullied even more for being with him, with people most likely saying "she doesn't deserve to be with him," and similar. And Shadow . . . she didn't want people to rag on him too. She felt like he deserved to be as popular as he was, and didn't want to ruin that.

Blaze made a hurried decision, and quickly said, "Uh, actually, I'll just meet you out in the parking lot. And uh, I gotta go. To, uh, French."

"Wait, Blaze, are you sure? Do you know where I'm parked?"

Blaze, who had turned to go, turned back to Shadow and said, "Uh, well, no . . . but I do know what your truck, uh, looks like."

"If you insist," he replied. He cleared his throat. "I don't want to keep you waiting, so I'll see you at 2:45 in the parking lot."

"Uh, yeah, okay," said Blaze, smiling but turning away to her class.

"Oh, and Blaze?" Shadow called out.

Blaze jumped and turned around. "Y . . . Yeah?" she squeaked. She was excited that he was talking to him at the same time as being worried that she was already noticed by the passerby.

"Don't let Alysha or anyone else get you down," he said, smiling and giving him a small wave. He turned off down the hall. "See ya."

Blaze waved back, but then in her awkwardness felt her feet pounding against the tile, around the corner, and down the stairs towards room C102.

Her head was practically spinning. _What . . . just happened? Did Shadow really just offer to take me home?_

She slid into her seat in her French class and paused. _Yes! Oh my God . . . This is happening! Shadow is going to take me home!_

Blaze was beside herself with excitement. She couldn't help but perk up and grin to herself. She was mostly certain no one was around during their conversation to really notice or care, and she would just exit the building after most people left and meet up with Shadow next to his truck. And then . . .

_This is surely the start of our relationship! He's noticed me, defended me, had more than a brief passing conversation, and is going to take me home! I can't even_ — _!_

The final bell rang, and the French teacher entered the classroom and started the class. Blaze tuned out the teacher, but this time, it was out of excitement.

_Things are finally looking up! Hopefully this is that start of a great thing!_

* * *

"He said _what_?"

Selena stared in disbelief at the news bringer, a petite sophomore with black pigtails, a red crepe top, black jeans, and red boots. "Yeah. He said he was gonna take her home."

Selena slammed her locker shut in anger. "That _bitch_! Who does she think she is? Fucking stealing Shadow away from me."

Fiona rolled her eyes slightly. "Did she initiate the conversation?" she asked. "Or was it Shadow?"

Selena rapidly turned her head. "Why is that important, Fiona?" she snarked.

"Whoa there girl. I'm just curious," she replied. "I wanna know if she grew a pair of balls for once in her pathetic existence"

Selena rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

The girl telling the news shook her head. "No, he went up to her and talked to her. I don't know what he sees in her. She was clearly nervous during the conversation, it was like she didn't wanna be there."

Alysha shook her head. "Dumbass bitch. She thinks she can get with one of the most popular guys in school." She turned to Selena. "You gonna let her get away with this?"

"Oh of course not!" replied Selena instantly. "Shadow is mine. I got dibs on him."

"But . . . didn't he reject you over a week ago?" the news bringer asked.

"Oh shut up Honey!" Selena snapped again. "Just because he rejected me doesn't mean that slut can take him! She doesn't deserve him, and he doesn't deserve her."

"So what're you gonna do?" Alysha asked.

"I'm gonna talk to her first," Selena said with fierce determination. "And if that cow doesn't back down, I've got a backup plan."

"Oh that'll be easy," Alysha laughed. "Blaze is a spineless coward. She couldn't stand up for herself if she was mocked by a special needs kid."

The group of girls laughed.

"When do you wanna talk to her?" Honey asked.

"Lunch, duh," Selena said. She turned to Honey. "Thanks girl, you just got some love points from me. But you don't need to come with us to talk to her. We got this," she told her, gesturing to Alysha and Fiona.

Honey smiled. "That's all right. Go get 'em, girl." Then she turned and hurried to her next class.

"Blaze Katba, you're _so_ gonna get it," Selena smirked to herself.

⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤ END ⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤


	3. Cafeteria Friends

"He said _what_?"

"I know, right? That's what I said too! I couldn't believe he'd ever talk to me like that!"

Blaze was eating lunch with her best friend Amy and retelling the story of her encounter with Shadow. While Blaze was excited, she also fully understood the risk of discussing it. She kept a damper on her mood, something she as an introvert had a natural talent for. Amy, on the other hand, was peppy, extroverted, and (most importantly at the moment) _loud_. Blaze was all smiles, but Amy took it a step further and was practically squealing with excitement

"Oh my god Blaze, I'm so happy for you! He's really gonna t—"

"Shhhhhh! Amy!" Blaze frantically hissed. She lowered her voice to a whisper. "I don't want _them_ to hear! Or anyone else for that matter."

"Oh my god, sorry!" Amy gasped. She lowered her head and finished her previous statement in a hushed voice. "He's really gonna take you home, _oh my god_!"

"I. KNOW!" Blaze loudly whispered. The two girls broke out into giggles.

"What are you two giggly fools talking about today?" asked a cheery voice.

Amy and Blaze looked up to see a fairly tall redhead squirrel with a short haircut and bright blue eyes, a sleek outfit composed of designer pieces, and a monkey from the wrestling team on her arm. Following closely behind them was a tall hedgehog with short blue quills, wearing a varsity letter jacket. The hedgehog waved to Amy, and she perked up even more.

"Sonic! Come over here babe!" she cajoled in a joking manner.

Sonic rolled his eyes and smiled. "I thought I told you to stop calling me 'babe.'"

Amy grinned. "I know, but I just couldn't resist this time around."

Sonic slid into the seat next to Amy, and let her head rest against his shoulder. "I can tell, you seem extra flirty today. You can never resist my charms when you're like that." Amy giggled and scooted closer to Sonic.

The tall redhead loudly cleared her throat. Amy glanced up and replied, "Oh hey Sally, sorry 'bout that. You gonna sit with us today?"

The boy on Sally's arm glanced at the group, specifically at Blaze, and turned to Sally. "You're gonna eat lunch with them instead of us and your other friends?"

Sally gave the boy a knowing look. "Yes Ken, you know I do regularly. Stop acting surprised about it."

Ken shrugged. "Alright Sally. I'll be with our other friends if you wanna chat." He gave Sally a quick peck on the cheek and left.

Sally smiled and took a seat at the table. " _Anyway_ , before these lovebirds started interrupting things . . ." she glanced teasingly at Amy and Sonic. ". . . I wanted to ask what these two were snickering about this time." she gestured to the two teen girls.

"Oh!" exclaimed Blaze. She frantically gestured for Sally to come in closer, and Sally leaned in. "Shadow the Hedgehog talked to me in the hallway and said he was gonna take me home in his truck."

"Wait girl, for _real_? Like, he really talked to you?" Sally asked, her tone shifting from fairly mature to excited.

"Well, I mean, he's talked to me before this, but it was different this time. _He's going to take me home!_ I'm so excited Sally, you have no idea!" Blaze gushed.

"So am I! Girl, you _have_ to tell me what happens and what he's like outside of school! This is your chance to get to know him." She shook her head. "I can't believe you didn't even try to talk with him over the summer. Still mad about that."

Blaze sighed. "I didn't have a good opportunity too, I promise." When Sally's only response was a disbelieving and mildly disappointed look, Blaze quickly continued. "But that's in the past now! This is a golden opportunity. I just hope he's gonna be friendly on the ride back . . . What if he's different from how he is in school?"

"Don't worry about it Blaze," Sonic chimed in. "I'm pretty close to Shadow. He's a cool dude. He already treats you nice enough to offer you a ride home. That's not normal for him. You're in good hands."

Blaze felt her smile grow. "Oh my God Sonic, you have no idea how happy that makes me."

A sudden chair scrape near their table snapped all of them out of their conversation. A gray hedgehog wearing an anime T-Shirt and jeans sat down next to Blaze.

"Oh hey Silver, good to see you." Sonic greeted the teen.

"Yeah," said Blaze "I thought you weren't gonna join us."

* * *

"Oh," said Silver. "Nah, that was a part of my plan." He gave Blaze a small smile.

Silver silently opened a bottle of water and took a sip out of it as the others returned to their conversation about Shadow. While Silver was happy to see Blaze, and enjoyed seeing her talk about something that made her happy . . . He couldn't stand hearing Blaze talk about her crush.

_Shit, I shouldn't be thinking like that,_ he thought to himself. _But . . . Fuck man, I wish she didn't have a crush on anyone. It hurts hearing her talk about him. It's selfish, but . . . I really, really wish she talked about me with the same enthusiasm._

Silver quietly sighed. This crush on Blaze was getting out of hand. The two of them were very close friends, almost on the same level as Amy and Blaze's friendship. But Silver hadn't told Blaze that he liked her as more than a friend. He didn't want to ruin the good thing they had. They played a wide variety of PC games together and sometimes just voice chatted about a variety of stuff. He liked that she was interested in science fiction and anime, and he was excited he had a close friend that loved to play video games. And yes, he did find her attractive. She didn't believe she was, but he never felt like he could correct her about it. He didn't want to make things awkward.

Silver continued to ruminate on his predicament, when all of sudden he heard Amy stop chattering and groan, "Oh no. We've got trouble ahead."

Silver looked up and saw Selena storming over to their table, closely flanked by Alysha and Fiona.

⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤ END ⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤


	4. Lunch is Always a Mess

Blaze felt her heart leap into her throat. _Not again,_ she thought. _What does she want now?_ _She looks_ really _fucking pissed_.

Selena stormed right up to the table. She slammed both her arms down and looked Blaze dead in the eyes. "We need to talk, bitch," she said, anger seeping through her voice.

Before Blaze had a chance to respond, Amy cut in. "Piss off Selena. No one wants you here."

Selena turned to glare at Amy. "Shut your mouth skank. I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to your boyfriend-stealing slut over here." Blaze's eyes widened.

Alysha and Fiona quickly slid up to the table on either side of Selena. Alysha looked at Sally. "Hey, 'sup _Acorn,_ " she said. Sally's jaw slightly twitched. She hated being called by her last name. She inhaled and prepared for the inevitable argument.

"Still being an annoying little attention whore?" Alysha sneered.

"You're one to talk," retorted Sally.

"At least I roll with the attention. You act like you're a pure, innocent little queen. You don't take advantage of what you've got. You could be like me." She pushed hair off her shoulder, flaunting the perfectly shaped curls.

"Who the fuck would want to be like you?"

"Just about everybody. I know you do, Acorn. You just don't want to admit it."

"You wish."

Their argument was interrupted by Fiona sliding up next to Sonic in a flirty manner. Before Sonic could respond, she grabbed his chin in a seductive manner.

"Ooh Sonic," she crooned loudly. "I feel _so_ bad for you. I can't believe you'd date _her_." She glanced at Amy. "Why don't you dump her and get a _real_ girlfriend?"

Amy flinched. Fiona knew her insecurities. She felt like she wasn't popular enough to date the sports star Sonic. Fiona had been flirting purposefully with Sonic to make her feel uncomfortable.

Luckily, Sonic rejected her advances every single time. "Why don't you . . ." he said, " . . . Leave me and my girlfriend alone." He slammed her hand down on the table. "No one wants to date your clingy ass."

"Tch. You'd be surprised at how many guys want a piece of this. Oh well, your loss. Keep dating that pathetic virgin, see if I care." She sauntered off.

Alysha glanced over her shoulder at Fiona leaving. She turned back to Sally. "Well, I'll see you later Acorn. Enjoy hanging out with your loser friends." She then turned and hurried after Fiona towards their table.

Selena glanced back and rolled her eyes. "Ugh, whatever." She turned back to Blaze. "I'm not done with you." She leaned in close, making Blaze flinch. "I know you talked to Shadow, and I _know_ he's planning on taking you home. I thought I made myself clear. Shadow. Is. MINE!"

Blaze choked on the retort she wanted to say.

"Piss off! Shadow doesn't want to date you!" Sonic shouted. "He hates your guts!"

Selena's expression faltered for a split second, but quickly twisted back into anger. "Shut the fuck up. That still doesn't mean that bitch can take him. She's nasty and—"

"Do NOT talk about my friends like that!" Silver suddenly piped up. His eyes widened as Selena turned her hawk-like gaze towards him. He felt his continued retort die away. He hated to admit it, but he was unnerved by Selena and her friends, especially Fiona.

"He's right!" Amy spoke up as well. "Just go away! Blaze is going home with Shadow and there's nothing you can do about it!"

Selena said nothing. She clenched her jaw and threw her empty sparkling water can at Blaze. It made contact with Blaze's face, spilling a small amount of sparkling water down Blaze's shirt. She turned and stormed away in a huff.

Blaze felt herself exhale a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. Amy grabbed some napkins and handed them to Blaze to dab at her shirt. "Well, at least they're gone, right?"

Blaze thought for a minute, and nodded. "Yeah, that's true."

The table was silent for about a minute before Sally spoke up. "Hey guys, cheer up! They're gone! And hey, I'll go buy y'all some snacks from the cafeteria. What do you guys want?"

"I'll take a Coke," said Sonic. "And Amy wants an orange Fanta, right?" Amy perked up and smiled. "Aw, you remembered!"

Sonic smiled. "Of course I did!" He rubbed the back of Amy's head and she smiled.

The table resumed their chatter, buoyed by snack requests and ranting about the three popular girls. Blaze didn't say much, other than asking for a bag of barbecue chips.

She smiled to herself. _I'm so lucky I have such good friends. They make this year sane and normal. Plus, I've got a meet-up with Shadow! This day is going really good so far!_

⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤ END ⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤


	5. The Powder-Keg Friend

The restored calm of the lunch table where Blaze and her friends were eating was once again shattered, but this time by an echidna with purple dreadlocks, a camo top, khaki shorts, teal combat boots, and a sheet of paper with a bright red "D-" scrawled at the top.

She stormed right up to the table and slammed her paper down loudly in front of an empty seat. "Goddammit!" she loudly screamed. "I fucking HATE science!"

Sonic didn't even look up from his lunch, as if these outbursts were a regular, everyday occurrence. "What now, Julie?"

Julie gave an exasperated sigh. "Stupid fucking Finitevus gave me a D- on my last assignment. AGAIN! My dad is gonna kill me."

"Wait, Mr. Rieper?"

"No, the fucking President," snarked Julie sarcastically. "Yes, Mr. Rieper. I call him Finitevus cause he's, ya know, my sister's husband. You've heard me go off on him before. He's a snarky, asshole, piece-of-shit bastard that doesn't deserve to be referred to as Mr. Anything."

"Uh, Julie, you might wanna keep it down a bit," said Sally in a hushed voice.

"Oh? Why should I?" she said. "It's true! He's such a narcissistic prick! I can't believe Lien-Da ever saw anything in . . ."

She trailed off as she saw all of the table's occupants looking up and behind her. She turned her head and jumped back in surprise.

"F . . . Finitevus!" she started. "I, uh . . . "

Mr. Rieper, or "Finitevus," as Julie referred to him, looked quite pissed. "Julie-Su Demitri, I do not appreciate you trash-talking me, especially not to your friends, and _especially_ not while on school property. You are acting like a spoiled twelve-year-old."

Julie gritted her teeth and said nothing, staring at her Doc Martins instead of her brother-in-law.

Mr. Rieper continued. "I was coming to see you to have a quick chat about your grade and some opportunities for extra credit so as not to get on your father's bad side, but honestly, I think your attitude needs work before your science grade."

Blaze and her friends exchanged concerned glances and did their best to act like they didn't notice the conflict occurring mere feet away from them.

"Oh, come on Fi—" She paused as Mr. Rieper gave her a deadly stare. " _Mr. Rieper_ , I really need that extra credit! Please, I'm sorry, I won't do it again!"

Mr. Rieper gave Julie a disappointed look. "I sure hope so, but if you'll pardon my unprofessionalism for a moment, Miss Demitri, I suspect you won't keep that promise."

When Julie didn't respond, he continued. "Your parents and I expect better of you. Just because I married your sister doesn't mean I'm going to give you special treatment on your coursework. I was going to give you opportunities to help give you a hand, but based on how you feel about me, I can tell you don't want it."

He turned to go, but before he did, he looked over his shoulder and delivered a final message. "Oh, and if I catch you using that mouth towards any staff member, not just me, there will be in-school consequences. Got it?"

Julie gave a tight nod, and Mr. Rieper turned and left the cafeteria. After he left, Julie slumped into a seat at the table.

"Goddamn," Sally snickered. "Finitevus really tore into you this time, huh? Want some ice for that burn?"

"Shut the fuck up," Julie replied, irritated and exhausted.

She turned to look at Blaze. "Blaze, you're pretty smart. You wanna help me get my chem grade up?"

"Uh, well, I don't think I'm the best person to ask for help regarding that," she admitted. "History is more of my thing. But, uh, maybe Silver can give you a hand."

"Cool," she said, mellowing out significantly. "I can meet up after school at—"

"Can't, sorry," interrupted Silver. "I have work after school almost every day."

"Ugh," she groaned. "I mean, that's dope dude, but _ugh_."

"Sorry, Julie," said Amy. "Hey, maybe I could help?"

"Uh, sure? But don't you have cheer practice after school?" Julie asked.

"Oh, I do, but Junior Varsity only meets three times a week instead of four. I can also do weekend study shifts most of the time."

Julie gave a relieved smile. "Thanks Ames." She gave a playful smirk and produced a perfect bubble gum bubble.

"Ugh, stop with the Ames," replied Amy, faking annoyance.

Julie lifted her legs and placed her feet on the table, but out of the corner of her eye saw something that made her almost fall backward in her chair. The entire friend group jumped.

"What, what is it?" asked Blaze, who was startled out of a daydream by the crashing sound of the chair.

"Christ, it's fucking Knuckles and his simpering girlfriend. Why are they so loud?"

"Who?" asked Blaze.

"Oh, that's right, I haven't told you. Knuckles is my cousin. Or one of them, at least. And it looks like he's back together with that bat Rouge." She glanced at Blaze momentarily. "Damn, I told everyone else a while back, we gotta talk more."

The couple's argument reached the table, much to Blaze's interest and Julie's embarrassment.

"Look, Rouge, honey, I'm sorry, okay?" a tall, red echidna decked out in Nike athletic wear from head to toe pleaded. He awkwardly ran his fingers through his dreds.

"Oh, you're sorry, huh? Then why is this the _fifth_ time you've said that?" the bat snapped. Compared to her boyfriend's simple, athletic style, she stood out sharply with a bright, glamorous style contrasting against her dark skin, with a scowl on her face.

"Look, it just slipped out, okay? Come on, babe, you make my day, and I didn't mean that. I would never mean that." When Rouge gave him a stern gaze and said nothing, he clasped her hands in his and looked directly at her. "Please don't leave me, I really do care."

Rouge's gaze softened. "Look, so do I, so just don't do it again, okay?"

Knuckles lit up and hugged her. He took her hand and walked to a vacant table, both of them giggling.

Julie made an exaggerated gagging noise and slammed her head onto the table.

"Why do I have such a stupid fucking family?" she asked to no one in particular.

* * *

**Alysha:** _**u guys I cant fuckin believe her** _

**Alysha:** _**and tbh I cant believe Shadow either, why would he do that?** _

Selena shrugged in her mind. She quickly typed out her reply.

**Selena:** _**Idk and tbh I dont care** _

**Selena:** _**she still said yes, so this is her fault** _

Selena felt her jaw tighten as she typed out the message and hit send. Ever since she confronted Blaze at lunch, she hadn't been able to focus since.

**Fiona:** _**what r u gonna do about it** _

**Fiona:** _**want my help?** _

Selena thought for a minute.

**Selena:** _**sure girl** _

**Selena:** _**ur a lifesaver** _

**Selena:** _**but uh whatre u gonna do?** _

She waited eagerly for Fiona's response and perked up when she saw the typing indicator out of the corner of her eye.

**Fiona:** _**hey alysha can I get scourge to help? Hes good at helping out wit this sorta thing** _

**Fiona:** _**I think imma get scourge to provoke him** _

**Fiona:** _**ya know to get him in trouble for fighting** _

Selena grinned to herself.

**Selena:** _**great idea girl** _

**Alysha:** _**ya sure, hes prolly gonna skip class anyway, ill text em** _

**Selena:** _**yes omg thank you** _

**Selena:** _**just dont hurt him too much, I just wanna make sure he doesnt go home wit her** _

**Selena:** _**ill stay after school to talk to him when ur done, so don't go anywhere** _

**Alysha:** _**sure** _

**Fiona:** _**ya ok sure** _

Selena smirked. _Finally,_ she thought. _I'll get him to date me this time for sure! I think I have the way to do that, and it'll ensure that Katba won't get to him!_

⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤ END ⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤


	6. Turns of Events

Blaze couldn't have felt happier. For once, a school day was going her way. With her mood elevated, she was able to tolerate PE a little bit more than usual. Conversely, she also kept spacing out during Advanced World History, a subject she usually could focus on. And now, she was barely paying attention in English. She couldn't help it. The thought of riding home with Shadow kept floating through her head. She could picture it now . . . Getting into his truck, chatting with him while he drove, stopping to get coffee, boba tea, or ice cream, getting out in front of his house, exchanging numbers, the eventual confession to start their relationship . . .

_RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING_

Blaze snapped out of her trance at the sound of the bell. She hurriedly threw her English notebook and pencil case into her bag and dashed out of the classroom. She just had to get through afternoon homeroom. Then, she would get to ride home with her crush! She had planned out just about every single possibility for conversation and even texted Amy asking for some money so she could treat Shadow to a drink or snack (Amy sent her $20 through Venmo).

She quickly hurried to her locker to grab the supplies she needed for her homework. She had just zipped her bag up when she heard someone shout her name from down the hall.

"Blaze!"

_Wait, is that . . ._ she thought. She turned around to see a flustered Shadow running towards her. His shirt was crumpled, and he had a few bruises on his forehead and cheeks.

"Blaze, thank God I found you!" he cried, trying to straighten out his shirt to no avail. He ran his hand through his quills, trying to look slightly more presentable.

"Shadow! What's wrong? What happened?" Blaze asked, worried. She had never seen someone as calm as Shadow flustered and disheveled before.

Shadow shook his head. "You'll never believe this, Blaze," he started, his voice audibly irritated and disappointed. "I've, uh . . . "

He paused, quickly glanced around to see if anyone noticed them. He leaned in close to Blaze and said in a hushed voice. "I've got detention."

A bolt of shock darted down Blaze's spine. "W-what? How? What happened? And how did you get hurt?" she frantically asked, trying to stay calm and only partly succeeding.

"Oh, these? Don't worry about 'em," he said in response to Blaze's concerned eyes falling on his bruises. "I'm not that hurt, just . . . really, really pissed off."

He took a deep breath to study himself. "Fucking, Scourge Reynolds. Fuck him. Fuck him and his bitch ass attitude. The bastard had the fucking audacity to pick a fight with me, punch me in the back of the head, for no apparent reason. HE started it, but when I hit back, I guess that means I'm just as guilty as the provocateur. Guess I'm not allowed to defend myself when I'm attacked without warning and from behind apparently."

He exhaled angrily, rubbing a tender spot on the back of his head.

"He decked me in the back of the head with no warning. Fucker sent me right into a pillar. So, I turn around and land a few well-timed ones on him to, you know, tell him not to fucking attack me again. He was dead fucking set on hurting me too. He barely said anything, and he just went for me. And even after I knocked him on the ground, he was still trying to land hits. Then, three teachers pull us off each other, we end up in the principal's office, and despite the fact I told Principal Acorn that I was only defending myself and hadn't provoked him or anything, I get after-school detention with Scourge."

"Oh my god . . ." was all Blaze could manage to say.

"Yeah . . ." Shadow trailed off. He hung his head. "But uh, yeah. I'm gonna fight for my innocence, but until then, I'm stuck in detention for about a week. So, I can't take you home today or anytime this week. I'm really sorry, Blaze."

It hadn't hit her yet, but when it did, it was like a truck. "O . . . oh . . ." she said, her excitement and happiness quickly leaving her.

"I'm so sorry, Blaze," he sympathized. "On the bright side, Scourge is in detention too, so whatever he was planning on doing won't happen to you. It should be safe to take the bus. I know that's not what you want, but, well, there's that," he offered sympathetically.

"Yeah, that's . . . that's true . . ." Blaze replied, sighing. It felt so stupid, but her entire day felt ruined. The build-up to what was supposed to be a fantastic afternoon had fallen hopelessly flat. She felt like she wanted to cry but held back the urge. She didn't want to cry in front of her crush after all.

Luckily and unluckily, the warning bell for afternoon homeroom rang, interrupting the conversation. "Shit, I gotta go," said Shadow. "I'll . . . see you around Blaze." Shadow lifted his hand in departure, turned, and walked down the hall, with his posture slumped in a defeated pose.

With the hurt, anger, and disappointment coming to a boil in Blaze's chest, she quickly shut her locker and hurried off to afternoon homeroom, hoping to distract herself from the annoyingly strong urge to cry.

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want a ride home?" Amy asked in a concerned voice.

Blaze sighed. "Yeah. It's fine. I just wanna go home."

"Are you sure? You don't wanna get boba tea or anything?"

". . . Yeah. I'm tired. Besides, I've got homework anyway." It was hard for Blaze to sound casual, and Amy picked up on it quickly.

"Aw Blaze . . . I'm so sorry," she sighed. She reached forward and took Blaze into a hug. Blaze hugged back.

"Thanks, Amy. You're the best."

Amy grinned. "You sure you don't want to ride home with us?" she asked, gesturing to Sally, Sonic, and Silver behind her. Sonic gave an encouraging and sympathetic smile and jingled his keys. Blaze smiled appreciatively but shook her head.

"You guys are so distracting. I just wanna go home, chill, and eat my feelings," she replied.

"What if . . ." Sally began, ". . . You boba tea'd your feelings?" She made finger guns towards Blaze, who rolled her eyes.

The sound of diesel engines starting gave Blaze the final excuse to leave.

"Shoot, my bus is about to leave. Gotta go, guys. Sorry, we can go get boba another time. Bye!" she quickly waved and jogged toward her bus.

"Ugh, fine!" Amy yelled back. "I'm holding you to that!"

Blaze quickly clambered onto her bus and into an empty front seat. She exhaled.

_Wow, I am tired,_ she mused. Then, everything hit her at once. She got sad again.

_Goddammit! I was so close! Of fucking course, Scourge had to be an asshole like he always is and ruin everything._

She felt tears start to come, and she quickly slumped in her bus seat and faced the window. She felt like a child, but she couldn't help it. Shadow was her beacon of light. His being at school made it more enjoyable, and the fact he saw her as a person unlike all of the other popular students at her high school made her feel wanted and special. Yeah, she had friends, and they all cared about her, and she did about them. But she knew that her chances of finding a boyfriend were slim.

People had been bullying Blaze since freshman year. It wasn't fair. She had been subject to so many rumors. The first one said she had sex with someone on the football team. The next said that she started an OnlyFans. The next said that she smoked a ton of weed every day (Blaze had never touched the stuff), the next said her family was poor and that she worked OnlyFans to support her family. None of them were at all true, and she wasn't sure why everyone was targeting her. Somehow, much of the junior and sophomore student body had the impression that Blaze was a slimy underaged sex worker who nobody liked, and despite selling her body, had never had sex with anyone because of how nasty/boring of a person she was.

The rumors were so outlandish, and many people didn't believe them at all. But all the rumors had drawn attention to Blaze and made her a punching bag for the school's elite and something to chuckle about if you were outside the circle of elites. People then went after her looks, her personality, and her interests. She hated it. She hadn't done anything except mind her own business. She couldn't understand it.

Tears flowed more freely now, and she gazed intently at the metal siding of the bus, hoping no one would see her cry.

_Shadow made everything a bit better_ , she mused.

Shadow treated her like a human. He was one of the most popular kids at school, and he still didn't believe any of the rumors. He was mysteriously aloof a lot of the time but always managed to intervene whenever Blaze's name was mentioned. He also seemed to be pretty friendly to her as of late. Waving to her, stopping by her classes, offering homework help. He once even gave Blaze a book that he thought she would like ( _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress;_ Blaze almost fainted on the spot and read the book all within that night).

Thinking of Shadow and how kindly he had treated her made her smile and wiped some of the tears from her face.

_He's just so . . . perfect . . . If we could start dating, not only would I be dating one of the cutest boys at Station Square, but maybe I could improve my standing with the in-crowd. I don't even want to be popular. I just want all this shit to stop._

Blaze sighed. _Everything shouldn't be this complicated. Why is it?_

* * *

Blaze threw open her front door, quickly slammed it shut, kicked her shoes off, and flopped onto the couch in her living room. Her aunt and uncle weren't home yet, so she grabbed a nearby pillow, screamed into it, and then lay still for a few minutes. She was so emotionally drained, she couldn't bring herself to do anything except lay on her couch motionless. That was until she heard a familiar sound, and her ears perked up. It was the sound of a truck engine, and it was coming down her cul-de-sac.

_Could that be . . . No, no way. He'd still be in detention right now._

As the vehicle grew closer, Blaze's heart increased. The engine sounded distinctly like Shadow's truck. She quickly sat up and looked out her living room windows, which faced directly across from Shadow's driveway.

It _was_ Shadow!

Blaze was confused. _Did he manage to convince the staff that he was innocent? Is he coming to say hi?_

Blaze then noticed something unusual. There was someone in the passenger seat of his truck, but Blaze couldn't make out who it was. Shadow's truck proceeded to roll past her house and into his driveway. Blaze watched the entire thing, intrigued. She heard the engine stop and saw Shadow exit the truck.

Then, Blaze's heart, which had picked up its pace since she'd seen Shadow's truck, suddenly jolted. She felt it plummet into the pit of her stomach. Her jaw fell open. She saw the passenger exit the truck and immediately saw who it was. She could recognize that blonde hair anywhere.

It was Selena.

It felt like time slowed down. This was a nightmare. Blaze couldn't believe it. Shadow had lied about detention to pick up Selena. That was the only explanation. She blinked a few times to make sure she saw right, and unfortunately, Selena's striking blonde hair never exited her vision. She watched as Shadow and Selena talked, Selena's back facing Blaze's house, and could not make out what was happening. That was, until she saw Selena lunge forward into Shadow's arms, in what was unmistakably an embrace and a kiss.

The tears rushed back in, and Blaze felt her throat tighten. She couldn't bear to watch anymore. She tore her tear-filled eyes away from the scene and ran up the stairs to her room. She threw herself onto her bed and cried herself to sleep.

⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤ END ⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤


	7. Let's Make a Deal

Shadow felt terrible. He felt so pissed off and so disgusting.

He hadn't moved from the front hall of his house in what felt like an hour but was only probably about 15 minutes. He leaned against the wall outside his front door, trying to think about what he should do next, where he should go, something, anything, except what just happened. He slowly slumped onto the floor, back still against the wall, and rested his head in one hand. He sighed.

The deafening silence in his home was shattered when he heard the sound of a car drive by and slow down. He peered out a small window next to his front door and saw a car pull into Blaze's driveway. He watched as what was presumably her friends pile out and knock on her door.

_Blaze . . ._

He pulled away from the window. He felt like he should exit the door, go over to Blaze's house, and say something. But what would he say? What _could_ he say? Had she seen? Did she know?

_I'm probably not welcome over there anyway . . ._

He sighed, and the events of the past hour all came rushing back suddenly. He pulled away from the window and stared up and the ceiling, recalling everything at once.

* * *

_Shadow trudged into the room where detention was being held. He glanced around the room to see who else was in detention. Mostly freshmen who probably were unaware of some of the rules so far. He breathed a sigh of relief. No one could snitch or be an asshole about him getting detention now. His eyes then fell on Scourge, sitting in one of the corners. Their eyes met, and Scourge smirked. He sarcastically waved enthusiastically and mouthed, "Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyy."_

_Shadow shot him a dirty look, sank into a desk in the front of the room, and stared at the ceiling._

Great, now to do this for a whole two hours. Awesome. Fuck you, Scourge.

_About 10 agonizing minutes of staring at the ceiling passed. They were entirely uneventful, except for Scourge throwing a balled-up piece of paper at him (he ignored it). He was sinking into a daydream phase when the sound of his voice pierced the silence._

" _Shadow? May I have a word with you?"_

_Shadow snapped out of his daydream and turned towards the door. It was Mr. Acorn, the principal. Shadow, slightly confused, got up and followed the principal just outside the detention room. He closed the door._

" _Shadow, it has been brought to my attention that you were only fighting back against Scourge. A student showed me a video of him punching you in the back of the head. While the scuffle is strictly against school policy, I do not blame you for fighting back."_

_Shadow, slightly confused and very relieved, nodded and said nothing._

" _I will ask you to not engage next time if this situation happens again. Scourge will receive extended detention, and you are free to leave. Thank you for cooperating with me, and I apologize for the hasty punishment."_

" _Th . . . Thank you, sir," Shadow said, more confused than ever. "Have a good day."_

" _And you as well."_

_The principal reentered the detention room, and Shadow turned and quickly walked down the hall, breathing a sigh of relief._

Well, at least that's over _, he thought._ But who would try to bail me out like that? None of my friends were around when the fight happened _._

_He turned the corner and came face to face with the answer to his question._

" _Hiiiiii Shadow."_

Oh. Hell. No _, he groaned inwardly._

" _Hi . . . Selena."_

_Selena gave him a big beaming smile and brushed a lock of her bright blonde hair off her shoulder._

" _Lucky I was around to catch that fight, huh?" she smirked, waving her phone. On the screen was a paused video of Scourge punching Shadow and him fighting back._

" _Yeah, real lucky," Shadow muttered. "Look, I do appreciate it, but if you think that bailing me out of detention is going to win you any favors with me, you're sorely mistaken."_

_He pushed past her. "See you around, I guess."_

_Selena wasn't done yet. She reached out and grabbed the back of his shirt, "Wait! I just wanted to ask for a favor."_

" _No," Shadow replied flatly. "I want nothing to do with you."_

" _Aw, come on, Shadow," Selena whined. "Someone told me you live in the Cedar Crest neighborhood, is that true?"_

_Shadow stopped. "Who told you that?"_

_Selena scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Does it matter?"_

_Shadow wheeled around. "Yes! Yes, it fucking does! That's creepy as hell. Why do you want to know where I live?" he shouted._

_Selena stepped back, hands up. "Woah woah woah. It's nothing like that!" she said._

_She straightened herself up. "Listen, I had to stay behind to bail you out, and both Alysha and Fiona took off without me. It's my cousin's birthday, and my mom is making me go to it. Annoying right? Uh, anyway, Alysha had to be somewhere, so she left without me, and I need a ride to the Cedar Crest neighborhood."_

_Shadow stared in disbelief. "Uh . . . No?"_

" _Aw, come on, Shadow," Selena pleaded. "My mom will kill me if I don't show up!"_

" _Then get your mom to take you," he said._ Fucking hell _, he said to himself._ I do not have the energy to deal with her right now _._

" _She's at work right now," Selena pouted. She reached forward and tugged on his shirt._

" _Pleeeeeeeeaseeeeeee? Just one little ride? I'll never ask again, I promise!"_

_Shadow started to walk away again, and Selena latched onto him like a leech, continuing to plead for a ride. She followed him all the way to the main commons of the school, begging for him to take her to her cousin's the entire time. Finally, Shadow snapped._

" _OKAY! FINE!" he shouted, exasperated. "I'll give you a lift. But only this once," he relented, facepalming._

" _Yay!" Selena cried. "Let's go!" She giggled playfully and tugged on his sleeve._

_Shadow sighed and proceeded out to the student parking lot. Selena started to ramble on about various things that Shadow wasn't listening to. He was thinking about the fastest way home so he wouldn't have to put up with Selena for any longer than necessary. He quickly started to listen when Blaze's name came up, however._

" _. . . Like, I can't believe she'd bother you like that. Isn't she soooo annoying? You know, I heard from Alysha that she's constantly . . ."_

_Shadow turned and gave Selena a dark glare. Selena's thought trailed off, and she stopped walking to put one hand on her hip._

" _What?" she snapped, irritated that Shadow wasn't interested in her conversation._

" _You know what," Shadow replied tersely._

" _Well, Blaze is annoying. That's just an objective fact," she snickered._

" _Shut up, Selena," he growled. "You clearly know nothing about her." He continued to walk to his truck, and Selena quickly started to catch up with him._

" _Well, she annoys me and Fiona, and especially Alysha," she quipped, checking her phone._

" _Why?" Shadow asked. He pulled out his keys and unlocked his truck. Selena ignored him and went around to the passenger side of the truck. Shadow shook his head, climbed in, and started the engine._

_Luckily, once they were on their way, Selena stopped talking about Blaze and vigorously started to text someone (presumably multiple people). She did not, however, shut up for one second. She kept trying to show him things when stopped at lights, and she talked rapidly and excitedly. Shadow had to keep shrugging her hand off when she would place it on his shoulder. At one point, Selena tried to get Shadow to stop by Starbucks on their way back, which he flatly denied. After that, she went silent and pouted for the rest of the way home._

Thank god she finally shut up _, he thought to himself. Listening to Selena's voice nonstop was giving him a headache._

_After driving for about a minute or so in silence, they finally turned into Shadow's neighborhood. Selena perked up when she saw this, but her smile quickly left her face when Shadow pulled up to the curb and put his truck in park._

_Shadow unlocked the doors. "Out," he demanded._

" _But Shadow, this isn't where my cousin's is!" she complained._

" _Too bad, you can walk the rest of the way," he told her firmly._

_When Selena didn't move from her seat, Shadow told her again to get out. Selena stayed put. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Selena piped up, her voice filled with firmness._

" _Shadow, I want to make an offer with you."_

_Shadow rolled his eyes and slumped against the driver's seat. "Whatever it is, I'm not interested," he said, audibly annoyed. He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration._

_Selena sat up straight, putting her phone down and looking directly at Shadow. "I think you will be interested," she replied, "As it involves Blaze."_

_As much as Shadow didn't want to admit it, Selena was right. He looked over at her but didn't say anything._

_Selena continued. "Look, I don't know why you want to be all friendly with her. I don't understand what you see in her. But whatever. I'm primarily interested in you, and only you. So, I'll make you an offer."_

_Shadow sat up, unsure of where this was going._

" _I'll stop 'bullying' Blaze and leave her alone under one condition . . ." She paused and gave him a "cute," flirty smile. ". . . You stop talking to Blaze and be my boyfriend! And I mean the whole shebang: kissing, hugging, walking to classes together, dates, eating lunch together. And it needs to be legit. You need to be into it 110%."_

_Shadow felt the blood rush to his cheeks in anger. "No. Fucking. Way!" he growled._ How dare she! _he thought._ There's no way I'm going to date one of the meanest girls in the school.

_Selena cocked her head. "Okay, fine. Don't. See if I care. But I'm not gonna leave her alone. Hell, maybe I'll even take it up a notch. It is fun to watch someone as pathetic as her squirm."_

_Shadow saw red. He turned around to face Selena. He was inches from punching her in the face but then realized she was holding her phone in a way that indicated she was recording the conversation. She was holding him hostage. If he said no, they wouldn't leave Blaze alone. If he got physical with her, that video could spread around the school, which could be disastrous if people saw him hitting her in a car by themselves. And that wouldn't solve the issue with Blaze._

My hands are tied. I've got to do something. Blaze won't survive any more bullying. Her life at school is hell enough for her right now. But . . . Selena . . . Ugh. That bitch. I can't believe this.

_Shadow sighed. He knew what he had to do. He'd figure out the rest later._

" _Fine," he mumbled. "I'll . . . date you . . ."_

" _Ohmigod yay!" Selena squealed. She reached over to hug him with one arm, and he brushed her off._

" _. . . Under the condition that you leave her completely alone. If you so much as touch her after we start . . . dating . . . the deal is off."_

" _Yeah, yeah, okay," Selena agreed hastily. She flipped the camera mode on her phone to "selfie mode" and said, "This is Selena Brenig, and I agree to the terms in the video." She gave a big smile for the camera. "And you, Shadow?" She turned the phone to face him._

_He glanced at the screen. "Yes," he said through gritted teeth._

_Selena gave one last glance at her screen and stopped recording. "Okay, first things first, you take me to your house." She sat back and buckled her seatbelt._

_Shadow looked at her. "Why?"_

" _Well, it's not too weird to want to see where your boyfriend lives, is it?"_

" _You're delusional," he responded._

" _Ah, hey, be civil, big guy," she reprimanded, "Or the deal is off."_

_Shadow sighed. He was done fighting and just wanted Selena gone. "Okay, fine. But you're walking the rest of the way to wherever you need to go to. And, if you tell anyone where I live, the deal's off."_

" _Okay, whatever," said Selena, rolling her eyes. "Compromises in relationships and all that," she snarked._

_Shadow put his truck into drive and slowly drove down the neighborhood road. In about a minute, he turned onto his cul-de-sac. As he slowed down and pulled into his driveway, he glanced over at Blaze's house._

I'm so sorry for this, Blaze. I hope she stops. Can't believe I'm doing this for you . . . well, maybe I can . . .

_After what felt like an eternity of an afternoon, he was home, albeit with filth in tow. He stopped the engine and got out. Selena followed suit._

" _Go. Go away," Shadow said, tired._

" _Nuh-uh, not yet," she replied. "Come here!"_

_Shadow walked around his truck to where Selena was standing. "What is it?"_

_Without warning, she jumped into his arms._

" _Aaaaahhhhh, I get to date you finally!" she squealed, hugging him. With the flip of a switch, she glared up at him. "Hug me back! This needs to be legit!" she demanded._

_Shadow reluctantly and slowly wrapped his arms around her shoulders. When he did this, she smiled dreamily and planted a lingering kiss on his lips._

My first kiss . . . with her . . .

_Shadow pulled away in disgust. "Go. You got what you wanted," was all he could muster to say, embarrassed and disgusted._

" _Okay, fine," Selena said, still cheery. "Have a good night, handsome! See you at school tomorrow!"_

_She turned and giddily hurried down his driveway to the sidewalk, where she waved to him one last time before proceeding to walk away._

_As though he was asleep, he robotically entered his house, where he slumped down as soon as he shut his front door._

What . . . have I done?

* * *

"Fucking hell, where is she? It's taking her long enough. How long does it take to get an agreement with him?"

"Could be a while. That guy is stubborn as all hell."

Alysha and Fiona were seated in Alysha's black Audi, waiting at a random corner in the Cedar Crest neighborhood for Selena to show up. According to Selena's texts, everything was going off without any hitches.

"Oh my god, finally," Fiona said, glancing in Alysha's side-view mirrors. "There she fucking is."

Selena saw the Audi and sprinted towards it, excitement on her face.

She hopped into the back and said excitedly, "It's done! He's mine!" She squealed.

Alysha laughed. "Nice." She reached back to high-five Selena.

"Damn, I cannot believe that worked," Fiona said, stunned. "Shadow is stubborn to a fault. I thought this was a long shot."

Selena smiled smugly.

Alysha looked back again. "You do owe me for this. Scourge is gonna be in detention for a while after this, and he got hit pretty hard in the scuffle."

"Of course, girl, I said I would, didn't I?" She reached into her Prada wallet and pulled out a few hundred-dollar bills. "Let's hit the mall!"

"Thought you'd never say that!" Alysha replied with a grin, shifting the car into drive.

Selena pulled out her phone and opened Twitter. She quickly attached a photo to a draft Tweet, typed out her message, and hit "post."

_Officially taken_ , she thought peacefully to herself.

⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤ END ⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤


	8. Friends and . . . Friends?

Blaze woke up to the sensation of her phone, which was wedged between her bed and her collarbone, vibrating vigorously. She groggily stirred, her face damp with tears and snot, and pulled her vibrating phone out from under her. It was Amy. Blaze felt like she'd been hit by a bus, and didn't feel like answering, so she let it get sent to voicemail. When the call screen disappeared, she noticed Amy had tried calling her three times previously. When Amy tried calling a fourth time, she sighed. She didn't want to answer but also didn't want to keep ignoring her in case it was something important.

Feeling like she'd been hit by a bus, she exhaled and picked up.

"Hey, Blaze! Hey, Sally and Sonic and I are working on world history homework at the library, and we wanted to know if you could help us out with something."

Blaze inhaled. "Uh . . . S-sure," she sniffed, trying and failing to hide the fact she had just been crying.

Amy picked up on Blaze's mood immediately. "Blaze, are you okay?" she asked, her tone changing swiftly from cheerful to concerned.

Blaze's eyes welled up as the events of the past hour came crashing back down. "N . . . No," she whimpered.

"Blaze, oh my god, what happened? Have you been crying? What's wrong? Tell me, girl, please."

Blaze started to cry again, tears rushing down her already damp face.

"It's . . . Shadow . . . He . . . _(hic)_ . . . lied . . . about having . . . detention . . . to d-ditch me . . ." she sobbed.

"Oh no," Amy gasped. "Okay, uh, hold on, Blaze, it's gonna be okay. I'll be over in a few!" she said hurriedly. She then quickly hung up.

Blaze put her phone down and started to cry again. Everything crashed around in her head. The joy and excitement of getting to ride home with him, the disappointment and anger of having him seemingly snatched away, and the utter horror and despair of seeing the whole plot unfold in front of her. Selena's blonde hair swishing in the air as she jumped into Shadow's arms was burned into her mind. Her chest felt like it was burning and tightening. All of the happy memories with them together were tarnished.

" _Why?"_ she cried out loud to no one. "Why would he do that?" She started to cry harder.

An eternity passed. Even after Blaze ran out of tears to cry, the burning feeling in her heart wouldn't go away. Her room didn't feel comforting anymore, but she couldn't move from her bed. The image of Shadow and Selena kissing wouldn't leave her brain. She felt horrible, to say the very least.

She heard the faint sound of knocking on her front door, followed by the sound of it opening and Amy yelling out, "Blaze?"

When Blaze didn't respond, there was a pause, followed by the sound of the footsteps of multiple people coming up her stairs and down her hall. More knocking, this time on her bedroom door, commenced.

"Blaze? Blaze, are you okay?" Amy called out.

"Can we come in?" Sally's voice said.

"Mhm," she answered.

Her bedroom door opened, and in walked Amy, Sally, and Sonic. Concern was etched on all of their faces, and Amy, in particular, looked like she was about to explode from concern.

"Blaze, oh my god, what happened?" Amy looked shocked to see Blaze in the state she was in: hair mussed, clothes wrinkled, cheeks wet with tears, and her eyes and nose red. "Are you okay?" she probed, already knowing the answer.

Blaze felt her lips quiver. "N . . . Not r-really . . ." She started to cry again.

Without hesitation, Amy rushed forward, climbed onto Blaze's bed, and took Blaze into a hug, which Blaze reciprocated.

"He . . . Shadow lied about having detention to pick up Selena," she blurted out, still crying.

"Oh no!" Amy exclaimed.

"Oh god . . ." Sally said, her eyes going wide. She sat on the edge of Blaze's bed, opposite Amy, and patted Blaze on the back. "Can you tell us what happened?" she asked. Sonic, confused and concerned, sat down to listen on Blaze's desk chair.

The entire story came tumbling out of Blaze's mouth. About how Shadow stopped Alysha, Selena, and Fiona from bullying her in front of a crowd, how he asked to take her home because of a prank Scourge was planning, how he came up to her just before afternoon homeroom saying he had detention, and how she had gotten home only for him to drive back with Selena in tow. She went over how she knew it was Selena based on the hair and the pink top she had been wearing, how she had watched helplessly as Selena jumped into Shadow's arms, and how they had kissed in his driveway. Blaze's friends sat in stunned silence.

Blaze went to wipe her eyes with her arm, and Sonic passed her a box of tissues sitting on her desk. She gladly took it, grabbed a handful of tissues, and blew her nose.

"I dunno what happened next. I couldn't take watching them anymore, so I ran upstairs," she tearfully recounted. "For all I know, she could still be at . . . at his place." She took a deep, shaky breath.

"Blaze, I'm so, so, so sorry he did that," Amy said sympathetically, rubbing her back. "Him of all people! He's actually such an asshole. I can't fucking believe it."

"Except he's not!" Blaze blurted out. "He's so nice and thoughtful to everyone, especially to me as of late. He even gave me a book I thought I would like, for fuck's sake! I don't know why he would do this to me and go back on his plans just to hook up with a girl he knows torments me daily!"

Sonic let out a sigh. "Yeah, something isn't right here," he commented. "Like, I'm not super close friends with Shadow, but I know he's not like that." He turned to look at Blaze directly. "I completely believe you Blaze, don't get me wrong. But . . . Agh, something's wrong here. Like I said at lunch, he hates Selena's guts. He rejected her a week ago, and he said he'd never in a million years date a girl like her."

"That's what's confusing me as well," said Amy in reply. "Based on what Blaze's told me about him, he's not the kind of guy to side with Selena or any of her friends, ever."

"That still doesn't change what I saw, though!" Blaze cried.

"Oh, Blaze, I know, I know," Amy said, hugging Blaze tighter.

Sally, who hadn't spoken in a while and was quickly scrolling through her phone, suddenly spoke. "Uh, you guys might want to see this . . ."

Amy and Sonic stood up and went over to Sally, who showed them something that both made their jaws drop.

"What, what is it?" Blaze asked, scooting over to see. Sally declined to show her.

"Blaze, are you sure you want to see this?" she asked, fully serious and very reluctant to show Blaze.

"C'mon Sally; you can't just show them and not me, especially not after all of this!" Blaze exclaimed.

Sally nodded. "You're right, Blaze. I just didn't want you to get hurt any more than you already are."

She sighed and turned her phone so that Blaze could see.

It was Selena's Twitter, and the most recent tweet, posted 30 minutes ago, read:

_**It's official: we're together! Station Square High, meet your new power couple! _Shadow2709_** _

Attached to the tweet was a picture of Shadow in his truck, his head turned away from the camera. Resting on his shoulder was presumably Selena's arm.

Amy, Sally, and Sonic were all stunned, but Blaze, having witnessed the whole thing, felt no shock. She let out a pained sigh, sniffed, and brought her knees in towards her chest.

"I knew the way he treated me was too good to be true," she whimpered.

Amy shook her head. "No Blaze, he hates her! I don't know what that Tweet even means!"

Blaze shook her head. "It means they're dating," she sighed.

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry," Sally said, putting her phone down and hugging Blaze tightly.

"Me too," said Sonic.

The four of them were silent for a few minutes, the dead air only being punctuated by the sound of Blaze sniffling.

Finally, Amy spoke. "Hey, Blaze, I'm so sorry this happened. Do you want to get something to eat? I know it won't fix everything, but it might make things a little bit better."

Blaze hesitated. She hated asking people to get things for her, but she was quite hungry now that Amy had mentioned it.

"Well, if you're offering, I could go for some chicken nuggets or for that boba tea you guys offered earlier."

Amy jumped to her feet and clapped her hands. "Chicken nuggets and boba it is!" she exclaimed. She turned to her boyfriend. "Sonic, sweetie, could you go get us the food and boba please?" she requested sweetly.

"Why me?" Sonic replied, cocking his eyebrow slightly in a teasing manner. "You gonna come with? That's a lot of hard labor for a young man." He shot Amy a wink.

Amy rolled her eyes. " _Because,_ Sonic, you're the only one out of all of us who can drive, and I need to continue to offer Blaze my full emotional support." She playfully smacked his shoulder.

"Okay, okay," Sonic said, laughing in response. "I'll get all of you your usuals for boba. Unless you want something different?" he asked the group.

"I want my usual, but make it a large instead," Blaze responded.

The group verified their boba choices with Sonic (a "pink drink" for Amy, "mango mango tea" for Blaze, red bean tea for Sally, and "The Signature" for Sonic), and he left shortly afterwards. While Sonic was out, Amy and Sally continued to comfort Blaze.

"Look, Blaze, I'm not saying you have to get over him right away or any time soon," Sally was saying. "But, you should know that if Shadow would seriously choose to date Selena over you, well, that's his loss."

"Yeah," Amy chimed in. "You deserve someone better, someone who won't ditch you for another girl when the opportunity arises." She looked Blaze in the eyes, jokingly serious. "No matter how hot he is, girl, I'm serious. I know he's a charmer, but he picked _Selena_ over you. _Fucking Selena_. How attractive does that really make him? I can assure you: _that bod is not worth it._ "

Blaze couldn't help but snicker. Her friends had good points. She sighed. "You guys are totally right, but I can't help but still want to date him."

"That's normal," Sally sagely replied. "You'll grow out of it in time, I promise."

Blaze couldn't help but feel lighter as she and her friends conversed. Her mood perked up even more when Sonic arrived back home with McDonald's (chicken nuggets and fries for everyone) and boba tea from their favorite boba shop. The four of them gathered on Blaze's bedroom floor and partook in the goodies, with Blaze tearing into everything ravenously. She hadn't realized how hungry she was.

"So, Blaze," Amy opened, munching on a few fries. ". . . About that world history homework . . ."

"Oh yeah," Blaze answered, popping a nugget dipped in sweet and sour sauce into her mouth. "We can study it together. Might be a good distraction for me."

"Wait, aren't you in advanced world history and not regular world history?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah," Blaze replied. "Makes me a good person to study with, though, yeah?"

Sonic gave Blaze a supportive grin. "Very true. Lead us to victory!"

The next hour and a half flew by, despite the fact it was spent mostly doing homework and studying world history. Her friends' positive and supportive auras were the perfect boost of serotonin she needed (the fast food and boba tea helped with that as well). It was a good, albeit only semi-productive study session. In fact, Blaze had almost forgotten about the Shadow fiasco. Almost.

The sound of the garage personnel door opening caught the group's attention.

"Oh, sounds like my aunt and uncle are back home," Blaze mentioned. She stood up, picking up the trash from the food and discarding it. "They're probably gonna start making dinner soonish."

"We should probably go then," Amy said, gathering her things and standing up as well.

The three friends quickly packed up their things and filed out of Blaze's room. As they were heading downstairs, Aunt Monica glanced up at them.

"Oh, hello, Amy," she said. "I didn't know you were coming over today." She nodded, greeting Sonic and Sally.

"Hi Mrs. Ashton," Amy said. "Sorry if it caused you any problems, it was very impromptu. We were just on our way out."

"Oh, it's completely fine," Aunt Monica replied. "I'm going to start preparing dinner for us soon. Would you like to stay for dinner?"

Amy shook her head. "No, it's okay. Our parents are expecting us back for our respective dinners. But thanks for the offer."

Blaze's aunt smiled. "Of course, Amy. You and your friends are welcome over any time."

She turned to head into the kitchen. "Blaze, come help me prepare dinner," she asked.

"Sure," Blaze agreed. She turned to her friends. "Well, I'll see you guys later," she said in departure. Amy rushed forward and hugged her again, and Sally followed suit.

"Feel better, Blaze," said Amy. "See you tomorrow."

"Yeah," Sally added. "You're gonna get through this."

Blaze smiled. "Thanks, guys."

Blaze watched them leave out her front door, and even as the door snapped shut soundly, Blaze couldn't help but grin from ear to ear.

_My friends are the best . . . I don't deserve them._

* * *

Alysha fidgeted on a bench outside the Mall at Station Crossing's food court, tapping her foot and fiddling with her phone.

_Ugh, where the hell is Scourge? He said he'd be here by now. And speaking of, where the fuck are Selena and Fiona? They said they'd be back soon._

She sighed. The day was exhausting for her, and while she was happy to go shopping on Selena's dime, her feet were tiring faster than normal. Plus, it was boring waiting here. She wanted to spend time with her boyfriend mainly and wasn't interested in the handbag sale going on inside Nordstrom's that her friends were checking out (she had plenty of those).

Finally, she heard the distinct sound of Selena giggling in the distance, and she turned to face the direction of it. There was Selena, blonde hair and pink top distinct, with a surprisingly amused Fiona in tow. Both were laughing quite loudly but trying to hide it.

"Oh. My. God. Fiona! You can't say that!" Selena quietly screamed.

Fiona snorted. "Psh, not like she's here. Plus, it's true. Jewel got her nose job done when she was 13! Her parents had to take her out of the country to get it done," she scoffed. "Can't even imagine what her old nose looked like."

"I bet it was hideous," Selena snickered.

"There you guys are!" Alysha called out, waving them over. Fiona and Selena glanced in Alysha's direction and hurried over.

"How was the sale?" Alysha asked, sipping from a Starbucks mochaccino.

"It was great!" Selena chirped. She waved a new Ganni Festival leopard print hobo bag and beamed.

"Ya know, I'm not a purse girl, buuuuuut I got this," she showed a genuine leather clutch from Kate Spade. "Couldn't help it."

"You're welcome," Selena said, sitting down next to Alysha. "Scourge show up yet?" she questioned somewhat absentmindedly.

"Nah," Alysha answered. "Ugh, I just wanna see him. I don't know where he is, and I need a goddamn hug from him." She hung her head backward and sighed.

Fiona shrugged, drinking from a can of Red Bull. "He should be here soon, no?"

"Hey, is that him?" Selena asked, pointing off in the distance.

Alysha quickly turned her head and immediately smiled wide. "Scourge! Scourge baby, over here!" she yelled, standing up and waving.

Scourge strolled over to the bench where the three girls were sitting. He gave Alysha a smug, pleased smile. "Hey babe," he greeted, kissing Alysha on the cheek. "What's up?

Alysha smiled, tucking a lock of her red hair behind her shoulder. "I'm better now that you're here," she said, hugging him.

Fiona glanced at the couple and then at an absentminded Selena, checking her phone. She exhaled, placing her pants into her pockets while staring at the ceiling absentmindedly, waiting for a distraction to happen. Luckily, as if on cue, Selena squealed in excitement.

"Oh em gee, Alysha! The new Stewart Weitzman collection dropped! Including the shoes Opal Undina showed off on her Instagram after the fashion show! We gotta go check 'em out!"

Alysha jumped to her feet excitedly. "Yesssss! I've been waiting for this for a long ass time. I need new boots for the fall. Let's go!"

"Weitzman? Nah, too expensive for me right now," Fiona replied, glancing at her nails. "Plus, they're not really my style."

"How?" Selena exclaimed. "They're so well made!"

"Yeah, and they're not my thing," repeated Fiona, mildly irritated.

"Yeah, I gotta agree with Fiona here," Scourge chimed in. "They're not really my thing either, seeing how they're, well, women's shoes."

"Not you too!" Alysha bemoaned.

"Dude, just take Selena and go look at the shoes," Fiona said, shooing them in the direction of Stewart Weitzman. "That store is tiny. It won't take you too long anyway."

"So, you're just gonna sit there by yourself?" Selena asked.

"I'll wait for you ladies," Scourge volunteered. "I have no interest in shoes I can't wear," he shrugged.

"Ugh, fine," Alysha said, rolling her eyes. She blew Scourge a kiss and grabbed Selena's hand. "Let's go!" she chirped, and they ran off both giggling.

Fiona breathed a sigh of relief and made eye contact with Scourge, who gave her a knowing look. Fiona returned a sneaky grin, glanced around to make sure Alysha and Selena were out of sight and slid on the bench right up to Scourge. He wrapped his arm around her, pulling her in closer. She giggled as his hand lightly brushed across her chest and down her stomach.

"Scourge!" she squeaked. "We are in public!"

Scourge shot her a lustful grin. "I know, kitten, but I couldn't resist touching you for a moment."

Fiona returned Scourge's eager look with her own. She turned slightly to face him more and placed a hand on his middle thigh. "Look, just make sure you're vigilant. We don't want Alysha or Selena to see."

"Oh, of course not," Scourge replied. He looked Fiona in the eyes. "Don't worry, that stupid chipmunk won't." Fiona couldn't help but giggle a bit at this remark.

Scourge thought for a moment. "You know Fiona, why _do_ you keep company with Alysha and Selena? I thought I'd enjoy the company of the popular crowd while dating Alysha, but it's not worth it, especially since Alysha isn't that hot. At least, not as hot as you," he complimented, to which Fiona blushed slightly and snickered.

"Well," Fiona thought aloud. "Alysha's alright. She can be really annoying at times, but she fun to have around to shoot the shit with. We kind of have an agreement as well. I get her gossip; she buys me nice things. She invites me to her parties; I bring the booze and the drugs. I tag along with her as a friend; she treats me as one. But yeah, honestly, I definitely could be more attached to her. Not even sure how I got mixed up with her in the first place."

She crossed her legs and leaned up against Scourge's chest. "It's Selena I'm attached to," she admitted.

Scourge blinked. "Selena? Really? Her out of everyone?"

Fiona glanced up at him sheepishly. "Yeah, it doesn't make sense," she admitted. "But there it is. Selena's is fun to hang out with. She's a bit ditsy, but I guess weirdly, that makes her more tolerable than Alysha. That doesn't mean that she isn't annoying cause _holy shit,_ she can drive me up the wall at times. When she's in a good mood, though, she's a bunch of fun to hang out with. Dude, I introduced her to weed at one of Alysha's parties last year. That was an experience for both of us, let me tell you!" she laughed.

Scourge shrugged. "I don't fully get it, but I'm glad my kitten is happy with the company she keeps," he said, smiling at Fiona. He planted a kiss on her forehead. "I just can't wait for the right opportunity to break up with Alysha."

"Yeah, me too," replied Fiona. "As fun as this is, I just want to be a public couple, ya know?"

"I getcha."

Scourge glanced over Fiona's shoulder. "Queen and princess at 5 o'clock," he whispered.

Immediately Fiona broke away from him, slid to the opposite end of the bench, and whipped out her phone. She stared intently at it, pretending as if the past few minutes hadn't happened.

Alysha sprinted up to the bench, with Selena in tow. "Selena's an idiot. She didn't even bother checking to see if the Weitzman store in Station Square even had the new collection. They didn't."

Selena looked mildly embarrassed. "Sorry," she responded.

"Ugh, whatever, it's fine," Alysha said dismissively. "C'mon, let's go to the food court," she said, grabbing Scourge's arm.

"What would my baby like?" Scourge asked gentlemanly.

Alysha playfully slapped his chest, and he embraced her in a hug. "I'm not sure yet," she told him. "C'mon, girls!" she called to Selena and Fiona. "Let's go get dinner."

Alysha linked arms with Scourge, and they started to walk in the direction of the food court. Selena, engrossed in her phone yet again, and Fiona followed them. Scourge turned and glanced back at Fiona, to which she winked back. He smirked, then turned back to Alysha.

"I'm so happy you're mine, Scourge!" a joyful Alysha proclaimed.

"Me too, baby," he replied.

⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤ END ⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤


	9. It's all About the Recovery

Blaze's eyes snapped open. She stared at her still dark ceiling and sighed.

_Great, of course. On top of everything else, I can't fall asleep, and then I wake up early._

She grabbed her phone off her nightstand and checked the time.

_5:14 . . . Well, might as well get up._

She sighed and pulled herself up and out of bed. She was dreading school today for multiple reasons. Friday Fatigue, a lack of sleep, and having to face Shadow and, more importantly, Selena at school tomorrow. Or, well, today now.

Blaze took an extended shower and then proceeded with her regular morning routine. She kept her look simple today, consisting of a white shirt with black stripes, grey jeans, and black slip-on boat shoes. She added simple stud earrings, and then with her extra time, decided to apply some light makeup to boost her confidence. It semi-worked.

Once that was done, she headed downstairs, where she encountered her aunt preparing lunch for herself.

"You're up early," her aunt remarked, stacking apple slices into a bento-style container.

"Yeah, went to bed early," replied Blaze semi-truthfully, pouring herself a bowl of frosted flakes.

"Well, since you're up early, I'll let you pack your own lunch. There is leftover chicken in the fridge if you want to take it," Blaze's aunt told her.

"'Kay," replied Blaze, mouth full of cereal.

Blaze took her time eating breakfast, allowing herself to have a second helping. After she finished, she quickly tossed some food into her lunch bag and hurried upstairs to brush her teeth and put on her lip makeup (clear lip gloss). When Blaze was finished, the time was 6:35, a whole 15 minutes before she needed to be out the door. She sat in her living room anxiously, trying to decide when to leave. She didn't want to encounter Shadow on her walk to the bus stop for what felt like the first time in her life.

She decided to leave five minutes earlier than usual. _Hopefully,_ she thought, _Shadow will just turn right out and won't even notice me standing at the corner. I can always hide behind that tree nearby . . ._

She took a deep breath, slipped on her shoes, and headed out the door. She quickly walked down to her bus stop. Unfortunately, she left at just the wrong time.

_Oh shit . . . Of course, Shadow had to leave at the same time as me today of all days._

She slowed down ever so slightly out of habit and out of wishful thinking. She kept walking and watched as Shadow got into his truck, started the engine, and pulled out of his driveway.

Blaze kept her head down as he slowly started to roll down the cul-de-sac, but she couldn't resist lifting up her head as he passed. As she had done every single day that school year, she lifted her hand in greeting.

Shadow drove straight past as if Blaze were invisible. He didn't even look her in the eye.

She sighed sorrowfully and hung her head as she continued her death march towards her bus stop, trying to hold back her emotions.

_I should've guessed . . ._ she thought. _So, this is the new normal, huh?_

* * *

Shadow sighed, turning out of his neighborhood and continuing on his usual way to school. He had hoped that blowing Blaze off would relieve his conscience, but . . . it didn't. To say he was dreading school today was a _massive_ understatement. He had no idea how he was gonna manage Selena, handle the crowds at school, or face Blaze or her friends. At least Selena hadn't asked for his phone number.

_Oh fuck,_ he realized. _Selena must've forgotten, but she'll undoubtedly ask me for it as soon as I arrive at school. I can't let her have it. She'll message me nonstop no matter what._

"Shit!" he shouted as he stopped at a stoplight. "God fucking dammit, I can't believe I'm in this mess!"

He exhaled aggressively. _Well, I'm almost to school, better think of a plan and quick . . ._

Then an idea hit him. He gave a small smirk to himself.

_It's better than nothing . . ._ he mused.

Shadow finally pulled into his designated parking spot at school and was displeased to almost immediately see an eager Selena hurrying over to his truck.

He quickly finished setting up his plan and then got out. Selena beamed.

"Heyyyyyy, Shadow," she cooed. She reached up and hugged Shadow, trying to plant a kiss on his cheek. He gently nudged her off of him.

He rolled his eyes. "What do you want, Selena?"

Selena looked indignant. " _What do I want?_ You actually thought we were gonna date in secret? Ha!"

She held out her phone, the "add contact" screen open. "I can't believe I forgot yesterday. I want your phone number."

When Shadow didn't move, she crossed her arms and scowled.

"Your number now, or the deal is off!" she demanded.

Shadow groaned and held out his hand to accept Selena's phone. He punched in the number she wanted, added his name, and handed it back to her. Selena gleefully accepted it and immediately sent him a text message. His phone buzzed for the first of what was almost undoubtedly innumerable times.

"Yay!" Selena cheered. She extended out her hand. "Now, take my hand and walk inside," she ordered.

Shadow sighed but reluctantly took her hand. She quickly linked arms with him and chirped, "Let's go!"

The walk across the parking lot and up the main steps to the front entrance felt like a mile-long hike. A few people saw them, and two girls turned and started whispering to each other. He internally groaned in anticipation.

As soon as they were through the school's main entrance, Selena wasted no time dragging him around to her various friend groups. She would then proceed to brag about the two of them "finally getting together." Shadow pretended to go along with the whole thing, giving small smiles and nodding. He hated what he was doing but needed to seem like he was a part of the entire thing if he wanted Selena to hold true to the agreement. Shadow got some jealous stares from many girls, as well as some utterly baffled looks from guys he played sports with. He briefly passed Sonic, who was talking at Amy's locker. When he saw them past, he tried to get his attention, mouthing, "Dude, what gives?" Shadow pretended to not notice him.

Selena kept dragging him around for almost all morning. Shadow glanced at his watch and tapped Selena on her shoulder, hoping to have her break away from her ceaseless gabfest.

Selena perked up and turned to face him. "Yes, babe?" she responded sweetly.

Shadow choked back the snarky retort he wanted to say to her and told her, "It's 7:20. We should get to homeroom."

Selena glanced at her phone. "Oh yeah, I guess so." She hugged his arm tight. "Will you walk me to homeroom, babe? Room A106."

Shadow sighed. "Sure," he agreed. He promptly was met with a sharp pinch. Selena glared up at him.

"Call me 'babe' too!" she hissed. "Or whatever pet name you want, but you better call me something!"

" _Bitch" is the only name you deserve,_ he thought to himself. He sighed. "Sure . . . Babe . . ."

"Eeeeeeee!" Selena squealed. "Let's go!" she cheered.

While they were walking, Shadow saw the familiar purple hair of a certain girl . . .

_Oh no . . . Blaze . . ._

Blaze glanced up briefly and saw them. She immediately turned away. Shadow felt horrible, but Selena looked quite pleased with herself. She gave a smug smile and wave to Blaze as they passed. Shadow nudged Selena, and she looked up at him.

Once they rounded the corner and were out of Blaze's earshot, he leaned forward and muttered, "Hey, leave Blaze out of this, okay? You got what you wanted. Leave her alone." Selena replied with a bored, "Whatever."

Once he dropped Selena off at her homeroom, he quickly made his way to his own. Blaze's passing image and the hurt on her face were burned into his memory. He hoped she would forgive him.

* * *

Blaze slowly entered the cafeteria and was almost immediately drawn to the table where Alysha, Selena, and Fiona were sitting. There was Shadow, sitting right next to Selena, who was giggling as she fed him bites of something. She felt her cheeks burn with indignation and what felt like shame. She glanced over at the lunch table where her friends were sitting and realized it was almost directly in view of where Selena and Shadow were sitting.

Heart heavy, she silently exited the cafeteria. She needed some space by herself.

She made her way to the school library, which was a much quieter and more secluded place to eat. She found an empty table near the graphic novel section, took her seat, and opened her lunch bag. It felt weird eating by herself, but it was also oddly soothing. She didn't have to face the truth that had made her distracted all day: Shadow, a boy she had trusted and was infatuated with, was dating one of the girls that made her life hell.

She stared at the fake wood tabletop, focusing on her food to distract from her emotions.

"Oh, there you are!" a familiar voice spoke.

Blaze, mildly startled, looked up. It was Silver, holding two Ramune brand sodas, with a concerned expression on his face.

"I thought I might find you here. Mind if I sit with you?"

Blaze shook her head. "Go ahead."

Silver pulled up a chair. "I brought you a strawberry Ramune," he offered, handing her the glass bottle filled with red liquid. "I figured you could use one."

Blaze gave a small smile. "Thanks, I could use some sugar," she remarked. She pulled the plastic plunger off and used it to push the glass bead into the soda, which fizzed. She took a small swig.

Silver took a breath. "Hey, I uh . . . I heard about Shadow and Selena. Blaze, I'm . . . I'm really sorry. That was a really mean thing for him to do, and I know how much you liked him."

Blaze sighed. "Yeah . . . I couldn't believe it. I thought we had a small spark, at the very least." She shook her head in disappointment. "Guess I was wrong. And you wanna know the worst part about this? I _still_ have feelings for him! Even though Amy and Sally both told me that he wasn't worth the heartache over, I still really, _really_ like him. I'm mad, but I still wanna be with him." She sat back wistfully. "Guess that's never gonna happen now, huh?" she commented.

Silver made a subtle motion with his arm as if he was going to reach out, but he quickly pulled back. He scratched the back of his head. "Well, I don't have any experience with this sort of thing," he started, "But from what I've heard, you'll get over him eventually. I guess just think about how bad his taste is. He went rummaging in the trash for scraps when there was a . . ."

He paused, trying to think of an analogy. He snapped his fingers and pointed at Blaze. ". . . A roast chicken dinner right in front of him." He blinked, suddenly realizing what he said, and his face morphed into an expression of embarrassment. Blaze giggled.

"That's not a bad metaphor," she snickered, smiling at him. Silver relaxed once again and laughed as well.

Blaze sat back, this time smiling. She looked at Silver again, this time smiling. "You know, dude, I thought I wanted to be alone for lunch today, but I'm glad you came to look for me. Thanks. You do make me feel like a roast chicken dinner." She beamed, laughing, and Silver had to suppress the beating in his chest. He looked away in case he was blushing, trying to slow his breathing down. While looking away, he happened to notice a familiar figure enter the library.

He leaned over to Blaze. "Hey, don't look now, but Alysha just walked in."

Blaze groaned. "Shit! What's she doing?"

"Don't worry," Silver told her. "She's going over to the help desk." He waited in silence, ears peeled, listening to her conversation with the staff member.

"Sounds like she's got a vital project to print out," he said back in a hushed voice. "And it needs to be in color, or she'll lose points."

He turned to Blaze with a mischievous grin on his face. "I've got an idea," he said. He beckoned for her to get up, and she did. The two of them slunk past bookshelves, Alysha at the computer station, and up to the photocopier and printer.

Silver clapped his hands together. "This is the only printer in the library that does color," he told Blaze. "If it goes down, Alysha won't have a project to turn in." He smirked at her. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

Blaze laughed in surprise and amazement. "Are you nuts!? What if we get caught?" she asked.

Silver shook his head. Don't worry, we won't," he reassured. "Just watch. It'll be worth it, trust me."

Silver quickly tapped a few buttons on the touchscreen readout of the printer. He then opened a side panel on the machine, revealing four toner colors: black, magenta, cyan, and yellow. He quickly opened them and removed all of the color toner from the printer. He then stuffed all of the cartridges into the nearby recycling bin and covered them with loose pieces of paper.

"Don't worry," he told Blaze, closing the toner drawer. "They'll find it eventually."

He then opened up the paper tray and pulled out the plain white paper, stuffing it behind the machine. He grabbed a neon orange paper stack in a nearby drawer and placed that into the printer, closing the paper tray. He tapped a few buttons on the display, confirming the lack of colored toner.

"And now, we exfiltrate," he said, hurrying himself and Blaze away from the printer areas back to their lunch table.

A few moments after sitting down, they saw Alysha hurry over to the printer to see her print job, which had started to come through. Alysha stared in horror at her project, printed in splotchy grayscale on the nasty orange paper, with smudged and almost illegible text. Panicked, she hurried back over to the computer center to run another job, only to get the exact same results. To make things worse (or better for Blaze and Silver), the printer then received an error message indicating a jam. It made a horrible clunking noise and began to chime. Alysha shrieked in panic, much to the amusement of Silver and Blaze.

"C'mon, let's get out of here," Silver said. The two of them quickly gathered up their things and scurried out of the library, leaving a flustered Alysha to fend for herself. Once out of the library, they started to giggle. Their laugher grew as they walked. Soon, they were roaring with laughter to the point where they had to stop walking and sit down in the hall.

Blaze held her aching sides. "Oh. My. God! That was _so_ satisfying to watch!" she laughed.

Silver took a moment; he was having a more difficult time stopping his laughter. He hiccupped and sighed. "Told you it was worth it." He almost immediately started laughing again

Blaze giggled. "I've never seen her look more terrified than that! Her eyes were practically popping out of her sockets!"

"Right!?"

The two of them laughed for a bit longer before finally exhausting themselves. Blaze and Silver sat in silence for a moment, reveling in their victory. Then, Blaze turned to look at Silver.

"Dude, thanks again for coming to sit with me at lunch. I really appreciate it."

"Of course," Silver replied. "What're friends for, right?"

Just then, the bell rang. Blaze stood up and dusted herself off.

"We should get going," she told him. "I've got PE."

"Oh, right." Silver quickly stood up as well. He turned to look at Blaze, and his eyes fell upon her face, which seemed practically glowing to him at the moment. Her perfect smile was only making things worse for him. He felt his heart rate pick up, and his palms suddenly felt a lot sweatier.

He turned away, coughing into his fist. "Well, I'll see you around then," he said, trying to act as casually as possible.

"Oh, yeah," Blaze agreed. "Hey, wanna play Terraria sometime tonight?" she asked. "I've been enjoying our Friday night sessions."

"O-oh," Silver started. "Yeah, of course. I'll message you on Discord."

"Okay!" Blaze chirped. "See ya, Silver!" she waved and hurried off to PE, a smile on her face and a slight spring in her step.

Silver exhaled and leaned up against the wall, relieved.

_Ah, shit, she's so fucking cute . . ._ he thought, a sheepish smile on his face.

He slapped his face a couple times. _Snap out of it, man! You gotta wait! She's still not over Shadow yet._

He slowly started his walk to his next class, trying to get in the headspace for it. He couldn't. Her smile, her face, her laugh . . . they were all so perfect. And distracting.

_How am I gonna be able to wait this long? I want her so badly!_

* * *

It was Saturday, and Silver was standing behind the counter at _Mystical Melodies Coffee_ , his mother's coffee shop. For a Saturday, it had been pretty slow, and he had just gotten back from wiping down the tables and sweeping the dining area. At the moment, he stood blankly, staring into space. He couldn't get Friday out of his mind. More specifically, he couldn't get _Blaze_ out of his mind.

The sudden sound of crashing behind him caused him to jump. He wheeled around, only to see his older sister, a peach echidna, sheepishly sitting on the floor, with boxes of cups and lids strewn about around her.

"Christ, Tikal, you really scared me!" Silver remarked. He heard his mother's voice boom out from the back room of the shop.

"Silver! Tikal! For God's sake, _be careful with the merchandise!_ "

"Sorry!" Tikal called back. She stood up carefully, brushing herself off. She then quickly started to pick up the dropped cups and turn the boxes she dropped upright. She brushed a dreadlock, which had slipped out of its hairnet, back underneath the net and readjusted her hat.

The 20-year-old turned to face her brother, who she still happened to be taller than. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you, Silver," she said. She grabbed the boxes of cups and lids and began to restock the dispensers.

When Silver didn't move to help her, she paused and turned to look at him. "Something on my little brother's mind, isn't there?" she probed, giving him a teasing look. "I've got the sister instincts on lock. Mark my words, they still work even though we've got different parents!"

He sighed. Tikal always seemed to know what he was thinking. "Yeah actually, it's about . . ."

Tikal turned to look at him, excited. Silver could tell by the way she was looking at him that she already knew what the subject was about. ". . . It's about Blaze. And her crush on Shadow."

"Aha, I knew it," she responded with a wise look on her face. "Well, spill the tea, bro. What's up? You tell her yet?"

Silver shook his head. "Well, I was sorta planning on doing so, but, uh, there's been a complication. See, Blaze still likes Shadow, but he ended up dating a different girl."

"Uh, seriously? That's a complication? Hello, dumbass, this is your chance!" Tikal said indignantly. "See if you can get her while she's a bit sore. You can be the band-aid she needs!"

"Uh, yeah, no offense Tikal, but I know Blaze better than you do. Trust me, right now is not a good time to make a move. See, Shadow said he was gonna take her home Thursday, but he ended up ditching her for a girl that actively gives her shit," Silver explained.

Tikal nodded understandingly. "Ohhhhhhh. Yeah, maybe not then. Give her some time to recover from what was essentially this 'Shadow' character stomping on her heart. Damn, that stings. That guy sounds like an ass. I'd have kicked him in the nuts had that happened to me," she commented, getting fired up.

"Honestly, it's understandable why she is upset," he continued, ignoring his sister's outburst, "But I just want her to move on. I can't contain my feelings for her anymore. I'm afraid I'm gonna say something that gives it away and then have that ruin the good thing we've got."

Tikal nodded, taking in her little brother's worried thoughts. "Look, dude, I haven't met Blaze, but she seems really nice. I doubt she'd cut things off with you if she found out, even if she didn't want to date you."

She filled the last of the cups into the dispenser and closed it. She turned to face Silver and grabbed his shoulders, making direct eye contact. "Here's my advice for now: give it two weeks. Then see how she feels about Shadow then. If she's still hurting over Shadow, give her another week or so. Then go have some fun together and then confess when you feel ready."

Silver blushed at the thought of telling Blaze he liked her. Tikal chuckled and ruffled his hair.

"Aw, my baby brother's got a crush," she said in a sing-song voice. Silver rolled his eyes and threw an empty foam cup at her, which she swatted away, laughing.

Just then, an older white hedgehog came out from the back. She looked at her two children and shook her head. "Okay, you two, I'm not paying you to throw cups at each other. The shop's empty, but that means there's more to do in the back, so hop to it."

"Okay, mom," Silver replied, and Tikal nodded in agreement. Silver and Tikal's mother disappeared into the back once more. Tikal gave her final thoughts on the subject they were discussing before.

"Silver, dude, you're gonna be fine. Have some confidence in yourself. You're a really cool guy, and Blaze is an excellent friend. She's not gonna snub you or be mad, even if she rejects you. You gotta shoot your shot at some point, for both your sanity and mine." She shook her head. "Like, bruh, the suspense is killing me. I need to know what happens next!" Silver laughed in response, to which Tikal smirked, satisfied that her joke landed.

She continued. "Give Blaze some time, and then just treat her like a friend and tell her how you feel. See where it goes," she said, looking affectionately at her brother. "You've got this."

Silver smiled. "Thanks, Tikal."

Tikal turned around. "Don't thank me yet! Help me unpack the beans that just came in!"

Silver groaned. "That's so tedious, though. Can't I do something else?"

"What, like dishes?" Tikal smirked.

Silver shrugged. "Touché," he responded, following her into the back.

⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤ END ⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤


	10. Just a Little Note

"Ow," Blaze muttered, rubbing her thighs as she stood up from the common space bench where she and Amy were sitting.

"You good?" Amy asked, also standing up.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I'm just sore from practicing this weekend." She paused to stretch while Amy and Sally waited for her. "I needed a distraction from everything, and my dance instructor said I needed a bit more practice for our upcoming fall recital."

"Oooh," Sally said. "You never told me you did dance. Are you on the school's competitive team?"

Blaze sighed as the two walked to their respective fourth-period classes. "No," she said. "I dance at an outside dance company," Blaze explained. It was only a semi-truth; Blaze had her own personal reasons for not joining the school's dance team, and she didn't feel like sharing.

"That's so cool," Sally commented. "What kind of dance do you do?"

"Jazz primarily," Blaze told her. "But I have dabbled in a bit of contemporary."

"She's a terrific dancer!" Amy commented, to which Blaze rolled her eyes.

"I'm not _that_ good," she admitted.

Amy scowled half-jokingly. "Yes, yes you are," she said.

"I am not!" Blaze insisted.

"Don't make me go all mom-friend on you!" Amy jokingly threatened. Blaze and Sally laughed in response.

Then, something on a bulletin board nearby caught their attention. It was a clipboard with sign-up sheets attached to it. A pen on a string hung next to it. Above it, in big colorful letters, was a sign reading:

**Homecoming is coming up! Want to run for homecoming court? Sign up to enter the first round of voting before September 29** **th** **!**

"Oh hey," Amy remarked. "They're picking candidates for the first round of voting."

Blaze looked at the slip and noted a large number of names already on the sheet. "Huh, that's a lot of people. What's the big deal with the homecoming court anyway? Isn't it just an honorary title thing?"

"Not at our school," answered Sally. "Basically, the student body elects one guy and one girl from each grade to be on the court. All the underclassmen get the title of 'prince' and 'princess' for their respective grades, and then the seniors get the king and queen titles. It's actually pretty hard to win; you have to campaign and everything since you represent the next year's student activities board. They get photographed and put on a wall of alumni that were also on the homecoming court. And there are actual physical prizes on top of everything else. Plus, you know, you basically get super popular if you weren't already."

Almost on cue, Amy, Blaze, and Sally noticed Alysha, Selena, and Fiona walking down the hall. Blaze and her friends scooted out of sight and watch the trio stop in front of the bulletin board. Alysha smiled smugly and wrote her name, grade, and school email on the list. Selena also excitedly put her contact info down before following her two friends to wherever they were off to.

"Should've guessed it," Amy commented. "Alysha has been elected to the court for two years in a row for her class, and Selena was the freshman princess last year." She glanced at Blaze. "You gonna sign up?"

Blaze immediately shook her head. "No, no way. No one would vote for me, even as a joke."

"I would vote for you!" Amy indignantly replied.

The two then glanced to board again and noticed Sally, who had silently departed while Amy and Blaze talked, standing in front of the board. Amy and Blaze hurried over to the board.

"You know what?" Sally started. "I'm gonna run for sophomore princess." She picked up the pen and quickly filled in her name, grade, and school email.

"Did you run last year?" Amy asked.

"No," said Sally. "I didn't think I was popular enough. But, uh, that changed around the middle of last year." She put the pen down and beckoned to her two friends to follow her.

"Do you think you'll be able to beat Selena? Selena _is_ the most popular girl in our grade," Blaze asked. Sally shrugged.

"I dunno," she said. "Gives me something to do for the next couple of weeks anyway."

The three girls continued to class. "Did you attend the homecoming dance last year?" asked Amy.

"No, actually," Blaze replied, much to the shock of Amy and Sally. In response, Blaze explained, "My fall jazz recital was the same day as the dance, and, well, my troupe needed me there."

"Oh my god, Blaze, you totally have to go this year!" insisted Amy. Blaze rolled her eyes.

"I thought it only mattered your senior year," she quipped.

"Okay, well, _sorta_ ," Amy replied. "But you gotta attend the dance at least once as an underclassman and once as an upperclassman. Well, actually, twice as an upperclassman, cause your senior year hoco dance is _totally_ different than your junior year dance."

Sally snorted. "Says who? Where in the student handbook does it say that?" She teasingly nudged Amy, who playfully shoved her back.

"Girl, shut up, you know what I mean," Amy said. Sally and Blaze snickered.

Sally continued the conversation. "Well, you should totally attend this year," she said. "It'd be fun!"

Blaze shook her head disbelievingly. "Nah, I don't like parties already, so I probably would hate a dance where most of the school shows up. Besides, who would I ask to the dance? Shadow is dating Selena now, and I don't think anyone else would wanna go with me."

"You don't need a date for the dance," Sally responded. "You could just go with a group of friends, or even by yourself. But you got us for a friend group, so you should totally come!"

Amy and Sally looked eagerly to Blaze for a response. Blaze sighed and rolled her eyes.

"I'll think about it," she told them.

Amy crossed her arms. "Not good enough!" she scolded Blaze, eliciting laughter from the two other girls.

The group stopped in front of Sally's next class.

"Well, catch ya girls later," she said. "Lunch?"

Amy and Blaze nodded in agreement before proceeding to their next class, which happened to be personal finance.

"Oh, that reminds me," Amy said. "Where were you last lunch? We missed you!"

"Oh, uh . . ." Blaze racked her brain for a response. "I had a small headache and wanted to eat lunch somewhere quiet, so I went to the library."

"You said yourself that you don't get headaches . . ." Amy said, looking at Blaze disbelievingly. Blaze sighed in defeat.

"Okay, okay, you got me," she said, putting her hands up in surrender. "Your table yesterday was in full view of Shadow and Selena, and I couldn't take it, so I went somewhere else." Amy immediately gave Blaze a side hug.

"I'm sorry," she replied. "I'll try to pick a table off to the side today, so they'll be out of sight as much as possible."

Blaze sighed in relief and gratitude. "Thanks, Amy, you're the best."

"No, you are," Amy replied.

"No, you."

"No, YOU!"

The two burst into giggles and quickly headed into their next class as the warning bell rang.

* * *

Alysha and Fiona glanced at each other and simultaneously rolled their eyes at each other. It was lunch, and Selena was going off on one of her obsessive tangents. Today's ramble was about the dates she and Shadow had gone on over the weekend. Needless to say, neither girl really cared too much after about five minutes. Shadow looked very uncomfortable, which was somewhat funny to Fiona, assuming it was because of Selena. But both were still pretty bored either way.

Alysha shot Fiona a knowing look, and the two of them stood up, grabbing their drinks.

"We'll be back," she told the couple. "You two enjoy yourselves." Alysha and Fiona then excused themselves.

The two walked over to the row of vending machines in the cafeteria and leaned up against the wall.

"Ugh, she really isn't gonna shut up about _Shadow-kins_ , isn't she?" Fiona asked, saying Selena's pet name for Shadow in a mocking tone.

"Guess not," Alysha replied, sipping from her smoothie. "God, that's all she's talked about recently. I'm bored as fuck."

"Right?"

The two glanced around the cafeteria, looking for some entertainment. They found some in the form of a certain girl getting her lunch from the servery. They turned and gave each other mischievous grins.

"You thinking what I'm thinking, Aly?" Fiona asked.

"Is it prank time? Hell. Yes."

They giggled and quickly left the cafeteria, looking for the instruments to plan out their prank. They walked for a bit before coming across the bathrooms near the lunchroom. As if their prayers had been answered, planted outside was a bucket of murky, almost black, dirty mop water. Fiona clapped her hands together.

"Bingo," she said. "This is perfect."

The two of them quickly unlocked the wheels on the bucket and quickly rolled it down the hallway. They stopped just outside of an infrequently used entrance to the cafeteria.

"So, what exactly is the plan?" Alysha questioned. "I'll let you lead. You _are_ the prank master."

Fiona leaned up against the wall. "Simple," she said. "We lure her over to the vending machines, and then we throw it on her." She snickered at the thought. "She won't know what hit her."

Alysha giggled. "How're we gonna lure her over there?"

Fiona thought for a moment, then snapped her fingers. "Well, I bet she's still upset over Shadow. What if we planted a note 'from Shadow' at her lunch table for her to find?"

"Ooh, good idea," Alysha replied, grinning. "Hey, what if we added a little . . . _spice_ to our bucket here?"

Fiona laughed and started to wheel the bucket into the cafeteria.

"I'll collect, you write the note, and then you catch up with me," she said aside to Alysha.

"Hell. Yes."

* * *

_Oh, hell no! Nuh-uh, no way I'm seeing this right!_

Rouge was not buying what she saw, nor could she believe it. She missed one day of school, went a weekend without hearing from Shadow, and when she got back, he was dating Selena Brenig of all people!

Rouge headed over to where her boyfriend Knuckles was sitting.

"Hey beautiful," he said to her, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Are you seeing this, Knuckie?" she shouted in shock, gesturing to the table where Selena and Shadow were sitting.

Knuckles looked over to where the new couple was seated and shrugged. "Uh, yeah. They're dating now. You jealous or something?" he joked.

Rouge elbowed him in the ribs in response to his joke. "Oh fuck no. I'm just confused as hell. Shadow and I go _way_ back. We've been friends since forever ago, and he's told me before he'd rather chew broken glass before dating anyone like Selena. So I wanna know is this: What. Fucking. Gives?"

Knuckles shrugged again. "You can always go ask him," he suggested.

Rouge stood up. "You know, that's not a bad idea, Knuckie," she told him.

She leaned down and planted a kiss on the top of his head. "I'll be back in a sec!" she told him, hurrying over to the popular girl's table.

When she arrived, she quickly grabbed a nearby vacant chair and pretended to blend in. Selena picked her out immediately and shot her a nasty glare.

"Hey there, Shadow!" she said, waving at him. Shadow looked up and gave Rouge a look she couldn't read. He looked extremely uncomfortable and irritated.

Before Shadow had the chance to acknowledge her, Selena butted in. "What do you want bitch?"

"Woah there," Rouge said. "Calm down sweetie, I just wanted to say hi to my _childhood best friend_." She emphasized the last part, having a feeling it would make Selena mad. It did. She turned pink but said nothing.

Rouge began. "Well, this is quite the surprise. I would _never_ have pictured you two together. How the hell did this happen?" she laughed. Shadow gave her a pained look.

Selena scowled. "That's none of your business," she snapped.

Rouge smiled sweetly at Selena. "I think Shadow is a big boy. He can speak for himself. Besides," she said, "I'm a huge gossip, I just _have_ to know what the tea is, or I'll die." She pretended to gag and rolled her head back with her tongue out. Shadow couldn't help but snicker, which made Selena even madder. She glared up at Shadow, who resumed looking extremely uncomfortable.

Shadow looked at Rouge. "Hey Rouge, listen, uh, now is not a good time. I'm kind of busy," he said, gesturing to Selena. Selena gripped his arm tighter and leaned up against it as if holding him tighter would make him his.

Rouge was appalled by how friendly Shadow and Selena were acting but tried to act naturally. She sighed. "Well, okay. But text me the first chance you get," Rouge told him. "I just wanna talk. Like, you do text me the most," she said, winking at him. Shadow was unamused, and Selena's nostrils flared.

". . . Unless you wanna tell me what's going on right now?" she probed. She shot Shadow a "you-know-what" glare. Shadow said nothing and instead stared intently at the tabletop.

Rouge sighed in defeat stood up. "Right. Well, I'll get going." She blew him a kiss. "Bye, lovebirds! Text me, Shadow!" she shouted as she scurried back to her table, heeled boots clicking against the linoleum. She glanced back one last time to see an enraged Selena shout and slam her first down on the table in anger. She laughed to herself.

Rouge rejoined Knuckles at their table. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and asked, "Well?"

Rouge huffed. "Shadow didn't say anything. He looked really uncomfortable, actually. He kept clutching his stomach every time Selena grabbed onto him and just overall looked like he didn't want to be there. Something is fishy," she said.

"So, what're you gonna do?" he asked.

Rouge tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I'm gonna keep an eye on him for the rest of the day," she decided.

Just then, Fiona rolled by with a mop bucket and stopped at their lunch table. Rouge and Knuckles gave her a baffled look.

"I see Station Square hired a new janitor," she said, chuckling to herself. "You'd be great at spotting the trash around here."

Fiona rolled her eyes. "Wow, you're _so_ funny, Stone," she retorted sarcastically. "Don't be a bitch. I'm just here to ask for your trash."

Rouge blinked, confused. "Um, why? Are you actually a new janitor?"

Fiona looked visibly annoyed. "No, you fucking idiot. Listen, I'm gonna pull a prank, and I need your trash."

"Uh, sure, I guess," Rouge replied, handing Fiona her scraps and paper waste. "I'm always down for a good 'practical goof,'" she said. "What's it gonna be?"

Fiona thought for a second. "It's a surprise," was all she said.

Rouge looked mildly skeptical. "Well, if you don't have a plan, flooding the staff bathrooms would be pretty funny," she told her.

"Noted," Fiona said dismissively. She looked at Knuckles, who also pushed his trash across the table. The couple watched as Fiona brushed their waste over the table's edge and into the mop bucket. She then walked off.

Rouge scooted closer to Knuckles and kissed him. "Well, this should be good," she said.

* * *

Alysha and Fiona reconvened near the set of tables where most of the popular students sat. Alysha showed Fiona the note, written in black pen on a scrap sheet of loose-leaf paper. Fiona nodded in affirmation.

"Perfect," she chuckled. "Now, see what I've been working on."

Alysha looked down. The liquid in the mop bucket was a soupy mess of trash, soggy food waste, additional poured-off liquids, and black water.

"Gross!" Alysha remarked. She laughed.

"I've hit about half of the tables in the lunchroom, excepting the obvious one. You wanna come with me and help get the rest?" Fiona asked

Alysha flashed her trademark smile and nodded. "Of course, girl."

The two scurried across the cafeteria, asking all the tables for trash, which most agreed to. By the time they circled back around to their starting point, the mop bucket was full to bursting. Inside it was leftover milk, soggy bread crust, slop from the cafeteria, old plastic bags, used plastic cutlery, and various other things. The two girls didn't want to think about it for longer than necessary.

Fiona pushed the bucket under the table where they were sitting, where some other popular students had gathered, ready to watch the aftermath. "You ready?" she asked.

Alysha nodded and flashed the note in front of Fiona. "Let's do this!"

Alysha waved Honey over, and she quickly walked over to where she was.

"Go give this to Blaze," Alysha told her, handing her a folded piece of paper with Blaze's name written on it. Honey nodded and ran off to do so.

Alysha and Fiona leaned back, looked at each other, and giggled loudly.

"This is gonna be fucking _a-ma-zing!_ " Fiona laughed.

* * *

Blaze, Amy, Sally, Julie-Su, Sonic, and Silver were sitting peacefully, eating lunch and discussing who their favorite teachers were. Blaze was just about to explain why Mr. Canus, her world history teacher, was her favorite when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

Blaze turned around and came face to face with a girl she didn't recognize. The girl handed her a slip of paper with "Blaze Katba" written across the top.

"Hey, uh, Shadow said to give this to you," she said and quickly hurried off before Blaze could even respond.

Blaze's entire table went silent.

"The fucking audacity . . ." Julie-Su remarked.

"No, no, this could actually be good," Sally argued. "This could explain something."

Blaze took a deep breath, unfolded the note, and read the scratchy handwriting.

_Hey Blaze,_

_Listen, I want to talk with you about everything that's happened, but I need to do so in secret so Selena doesn't find out. I really do care about you, and we need to work this out privately. Everything is not what it seems._

_Meet me over by the vending machines at 11:35. I have to break away from Selena, so it may be a minute or two. Don't bring anyone else. I want us to be in privacy. Talk to you then._

_Shadow_

Blaze felt her heart rate pick up. "He . . . he wants to talk to me . . ." she said, stunned.

"No way!" Amy yelled. She snatched the note out of Blaze's hands and read it for herself. She and Sonic quickly skimmed it, then passed it around to their other friends. When the note got back to Blaze, Sally asked, "So, are you gonna do it? Meet with him, I mean."

Blaze hesitated. Was it worth the emotional heartache? She needed answers but wasn't sure if she was ready for whatever Shadow had to say. It could work in her favor. Or, it could just be him trying to "explain" why he ditched her and was now dating Selena. He did say he cared, which was hopeful, but that didn't guarantee a positive result.

Despite trying to debate in her head, she already knew what she was going to do in her heart. She stood up. "I'll meet him."

Amy grabbed her hand. "You've got this," she told Blaze.

"Yeah," added Sally. "Good luck. Hopefully, it ends well."

Blaze nodded and nervously made her way over to the vending machines. Once there, she stood anxiously for a couple minutes, waiting for Shadow to show up. Blaze nervously tapped her foot. She glanced at the rows of candy in the vending machine and decided on some peanut M&Ms.

_I need something to distract me . . ._ she thought.

She pulled a couple bucks out of her wallet and slipped them into the vending machine. She was just about to punch in the number for her snack, when . . .

_SPLASH!_

A wave of cold fluid washed over her. Blaze gasped in shock as she felt the liquid soak her hair, run down her face and clothes, and pool around her shoes. She gagged from the smell, which was absolutely rancid. Blaze then realized she was also covered in trash. A banana peel slid off her shoulder, and she felt something slimy run down her back. She started to cough and gag, trying to suppress the urge to throw up.

Blaze tried to move, but she was rooted to the spot. She then noticed laughter coming from behind her. She slowly turned her head, trash falling off her head, and saw a crowd of students laughing hysterically. And there at the front was none other than Alysha and Fiona, both practically on the floor from laughter.

Alysha stopped laughing hard and tried to suppress her laughter for a moment. She snorted at the sight of a shell-shocked Blaze. "Nice hat!" she yelled, gesturing at the mound of wet food on top of Blaze's head. Fiona, Alysha, and the crowd laughed harder.

The soggy food slowly oozed down her hair and her clothes. The smell was disgusting, and the water had soaked through to her underwear. She covered her chest, realizing her bra was probably visible through her now see-through shirt. She felt her eyes well up and fought the urge to cry, albeit poorly.

"Aw, you gonna cry?" asked Fiona in a mocking tone. "You ain't seen the worst of it bitch!" she hollered. She reached over to a random tray and pelted Blaze with a nearby sandwich. It slapped her in the face and fell to the floor, leaving a splotch of watery mustard on her cheek.

"Ha!" Alysha yelled and hurled a tray full of food at her. It struck her in the back of the head and sprayed lasagna all over her. This sent Blaze to her knees, and the tears started. However, this garnered no sympathy from the crowd, who began to throw even more food at Blaze while jeering.

Time seemed to slow. Nothing felt real. Blaze felt the world start to spin as more and more food landed on her. Her instincts told her to run or to grab the food and throw it back in anger, but it felt like every joint in her body was locked up. Not even when Fiona and Alysha went directly up to her to dump cartons of milk on her could she move. She only cried harder.

After what felt like an eternity, she heard a familiar voice shriek her name.

"BLAZE! OH MY GOD!"

Blaze blinked the mass of foul liquid away from her eyes and saw a horrified Amy, Sally, and Julie-Su hurrying up towards her. They were closely followed by an equally stunned Sonic and Silver. They were all as white as paper.

"Oh, oh my fucking God. Okay, okay, here, uh, Blaze, here, take my hand," Amy hurriedly said, her voice shaky. She pulled a limp Blaze to her feet, and Sally quickly and carefully pushed the two of them away from the scene of the "prank." Blaze continued to cry as they walked, her waterlogged shoes squeaking against the floor.

"Oh, fuck no!" hollered a furious Julie-Su. "You! Fiona, I'm gonna beat your fucking ass!" She swung at Fiona, who narrowly dodged her fists and shoved her away. Julie-Su slipped on the dirty water spilled on the floor and landed hard, much to the amusement of the crowd. A few people started to chant, "fight, fight, fight!"

Even more enraged, Julie-Su shoved an unsuspecting Alysha, who landed against the table, smacking her head on its surface. Immediately Fiona retaliated, pushing Julie-Su back. Julie-Su punched Fiona squarely in the nose. Fiona hollered in pain, but before she or Alysha could do anything else, she stormed off, following her friends that were escorting Blaze.

Fiona attempted to follow Julie-Su. "Come back and fight me bitch! I fucking dare you, you fucking pussy!" she screamed, her nose leaking a small amount of blood. Julie-Su slowed her walking speed down and landed a perfectly timed trip. Fiona slammed into the floor, and Julie-Su ran out the door, urging Amy and Sally to keep walking. They hurried off in the direction of the nearby gymnasium.

* * *

Selena was laughing. "Oh my god, that's amazing!" she said, recording the entire scene on her phone. Shadow had a different opinion on the whole thing. He was trembling with anger. He rose to his feet and grabbed Selena by her wrist, aggressively yanking her out of her seat. Selena cried in pain.

"Shadow! What the fu-"

"You're coming with me! We need to fucking talk!" he barked, dragging her away from the cafeteria.

* * *

Rouge and Knuckles watched the whole thing, mouths agape.

"Oh no . . ." Rouge said. "I didn't think they were gonna do _that_."

Knuckles shook his head. "Yeah, they went a bit far, didn't they?"

"More like _a lot_ far. I thought they were just gonna flood the teacher's lounge or something." She shook her head, the guilt in her rising. "That was awful."

She stood up. "Where you going?" Knuckles asked.

"I think I know where they went," Rouge replied. "I feel sorta responsible, and since no one else is gonna help them, I'm gonna see what I can do."

She grabbed her bag and hurried out of the cafeteria, leaving her still reeling boyfriend at their table.

⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤ END ⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤


	11. Unexpected Helping Hands

Rouge exited the cafeteria, heaving a heavy sigh. She noted the brown, wet footprints leading away from the chaos and down the hall, presumably towards the gymnasium locker rooms. She shook her head as she followed the prints.

_I can't believe they would do that. That's so gross of them. I knew they were all bitches, but I didn't think they'd stoop that low. And the fucking_ nerve _of the others, to join in! They're fucking lucky they stopped before the teachers returned._

Rouge was just about to turn the corner when she heard a familiar voice . . . a guy's voice. Whoever it was, they were outraged.

"No! No, do not try to pull that fucking bullshit on me! We had a fucking agreement, and you fucking said you wouldn't touch her, you lying bitch!"

Rouge paused and listened intently. She heard a girl's voice arguing back, but she couldn't quite make out what they were saying. Rouge peered around the corner and noticed a janitor's cart just outside of the cafeteria bathrooms.

_Hm . . ._

Rouge was struck with an idea. She crouched down, unzipped the zippers on her noisy heeled boots, slipped them off, tucked them under her arm, and crouch-walked as fast as she could towards the argument. The argument grew louder and louder as she approached.

". . . I've told you, I had nothing to do with the whole thing! How dare you accuse me and call me a bitch!"

"I have every single fucking reason to suspect you, Selena! You hate Blaze for no fucking reason and do everything in your power to make her life hell for no reason! Why should I believe you now?"

"Motherfucker . . . Alysha and Fiona did that on their own!"

"Bullshit!"

_That's Shadow . . ._

Rouge slid in between the cart and wall and listened to the argument, intrigued and concerned.

"I'm telling you, Shadow! I had no idea Alysha and Fiona were gonna prank her! I have held to the agreement's terms, and I haven't done shit to Blaze!"

An angry and exasperated sigh escaped Shadow's lips. "That's too bad. Our agreement was that Blaze will remain unharmed while we quote-unquote date. You can pull up that video you took to prove it if you fucking need to."

"I am aware of the fucking agreement! You don't-"

"Don't interrupt me! You just humiliated Blaze in front of half the fucking school! You physically assaulted her, including with hard objects. You could have seriously hurt her! I didn't think you and your fucking friends would go that far, but I guess I was wrong."

"Shadow-"

"I'm not fucking finished! Blaze got hurt, so the deal is off. I'm fucking done with your fucking shit."

"Woah, hold on," Selena said, her demeanor suddenly changing from furious to calm and smug. "I wouldn't say that the deal should be off, mainly since technically I didn't harm Blaze.

_Scary . . ._ Rouge noted. _She's fucking mental._

"Hold on . . . what?!" a more and more enraged Shadow barked.

"I said _I_ wouldn't harm Blaze. And I didn't. You can check my phone's messages to see. Alysha and Fiona acted by themselves." She put her hands up defensively. "I have no control over Alysha and Fiona, and the agreement said that only I wouldn't harm Blaze. It never said Alysha and Fiona would stop."

A moment of silence. Rouge could sense Shadow's pure rage from afar without even seeing him.

"Am I wrong?" Selena quipped. "You know, I can show you the video again if you need to review the terms of the agreement." She snickered, smug in her victory.

A banging noise.

"Fucking . . . You're the fucking worst, Selena."

Another moment of thick, heavy silence reached Rouge's ears.

Selena sighed. "Look, I am willing to let this go. _Maybe_ I should have been more clear when laying out the agreement. But you are on thin fucking ice! I don't give two shits about Blaze or what you think about her."

"What the hell do you want from me here, Selena?"

"Take me out to coffee!"

A pause. "You're fucking mental, you know that? That's all you care about right now?"

"I am letting this go, Shadow! I don't ever want to hear you treat me like this again, or the deal is off, and Blaze is no longer protected. Take me to coffee, and let's forget this ever happened. I'll see what I can do about Alysha and Fiona, but I can't guarantee anything."

". . . Alright, fine," Shadow relented. "This is your last chance, Selena. I am done with your bullshit."

Rouge saw a flash of gray and color walk by the crack she was peering out of. Selena stopped and turned back. "That makes two of us," she spoke. "Mystical Melodies Coffee. 4 pm. You pick me up at 3:45. Don't be late." She turned once again and walked quickly back towards the cafeteria.

Shadow didn't move right away. Rouge adjusted her view ever so slightly and saw Shadow standing there, looking green. His left arm was protecting his abdomen, and even at a distance, Rouge could tell he was sweating bullets. He started to walk away but had to stop and lean against the wall for a few moments, grimacing in pain. Rouge had never seen Shadow look that ill before

_Shit, he looks sick . . . like really, really ill._

Rouge felt bad. There was one of her best friends, looking awful, and she couldn't do anything about it. At least not at the moment. She was hatching a plan and needed to keep it a secret.

_Note to self . . . Tell Shadow to fucking see a doctor. Hopefully, his dumb ass will go home early instead of sticking it out for the rest of the day. Of course, he probably won't since he's got that "date" with Selena. Dammit, dude, why would you do this to yourself._

Shadow finally continued on his way back to the cafeteria, albeit very slowly. Once he was out of sight, Rouge shimmied out from her hiding spot and slipped her boots back on. She couldn't believe what she had just heard and seen. She got up and continued to follow the damp footprints towards the gym.

_Of course, it all makes sense now. Shadow isn't really dating Selena . . . he's going along with some bizarre contract to protect that Blaze girl from bullying._

She shook her head. _Chivalrous. He's got no sense of self-preservation, I guess, at least when it comes to a random girl a grade below him. You learn something new every day._

Rouge inhaled and tried to clear the atomic information she had just been hit with out of her head. She pulled open one of the doors to the gymnasium and had her suspicions confirmed. The footprints led right up to the girl's locker room. Rouge noticed Sonic and a sophomore she wasn't familiar with waiting outside near the door.

Rouge straightened herself up and walked towards the locker rooms. As she approached, she began to make out the conversation between the two boys. The sophomore sounded extremely upset, and Sonic was doing his best to calm him down.

". . . I'm so fucking pissed! Why would they do that to her?! They're horrible people, and I'm so fucking done with their fucking bullshit!" the sophomore was yelling agitatedly. "I don't understand why they keep doing this! We have to fucking _do something,_ or I'm gonna fucking snap!"

"Silver, dude, take a deep breath," Sonic tried to tell the sophomore in an attempt to calm him down. "I'm pissed too, but you need to just slow down so you can-"

"No! Don't tell me to calm down! My best friend was just assaulted by a crowd of students with food and . . ."

He trailed off as he noticed Rouge approaching. Sonic gave Rouge a friendly and confused nod of greeting. The sophomore looked abashed and stared intently at the glistening hardwood floor.

"Just . . . going to help," Rouge told Sonic, a hint of awkwardness in her voice. She pointed to the locker room door.

Sonic nodded, mildly confused, and said nothing. Rouge pushed open the door and walked inside, making her way through the rows of lockers to the bathrooms. Along with the footprints, now there were small pieces of mush on the ground, presumably from the soupy mixture that had been dumped on top of Blaze. Once in the bathrooms, she heard the sound of a shower running and saw steam escaping from one of the stalls.

Rouge poked her head around the corner and saw a group of sophomore girls, a pink hedgehog, a tall squirrel with short hair, and a magenta echidna with sleek dreadlocks. They were all standing around outside the shower, looking frazzled. The sound of sniffling and the occasional sob was emitted from the shower occasionally. A pile of sopping wet clothes was perched on a bench, and underneath it were the waterlogged shoes that had made the tracks that led Rouge to the locker room.

The pink hedgehog sounded close to tears. "How could someone do that to someone? I don't understand!"

"God . . ." said the squirrel. "Her clothes are ruined . . ."

"They can't be washed?" asked the echidna.

"And where would we wash her clothes, Julie?" the redhead replied tersely.

"Dude, I don't fucking know," Julie-Su retorted, sounding on edge.

"Besides, she just had a bunch of sauce and other things that can stain clothing permanently on them. It's probably too late for a lot of it." The squirrel glanced down underneath the bench where Blaze's clothes were.

"Fair, fair," relented Julie-Su. "And her shoes are trashed too. I can't fucking believe it."

"GOD! BOTH OF YOU!" shrieked the hedgehog "Blaze just got fucking attacked by almost all of the popular students at lunch, and you care about her clothes and shoes?!"

"Woah, Amy, hold on, I can care about multiple things at once," the squirrel tried to reason. "And that's rich coming from the same person who was complaining that she had no shampoo even though Blaze can use body wash in her hair."

Julie-Su sat down on the floor, back to the wall and head in one hand. "God, okay, guys, stop," she asked, tired. "Listen to Sally," Julie-Su said to Amy. Amy, who looked angry a moment ago, suddenly got sad.

"I'm sorry Sally, I just . . ."

Amy sniffed and rubbed her eyes with her left arm. Sally hugged her.

"But what're we gonna do about her clothes?" Amy continued, trying to steady herself. "Blaze forgot her PE uniform today, and Julie's won't fit her."

Sally asked, "You wouldn't happen to have a spare change of clothes on hand?"

Rouge hesitated but decided to step forward anyway. "Um . . ." she began.

The three girls jumped in surprise.

"Uh," Rouge said, scratching the back of her head. "I . . . I saw what happened, and I felt awful about it. I just wanted to see if you guys wanted any help."

"O-oh," said Amy, relaxing a bit. "Well, thanks, uh . . ."

"Rouge."

"Rouge, yes, thanks. Uh, Blaze's showering right now. She has body wash, but a bunch of stuff got in her hair, and she doesn't have any shampoo."

A quiet voice called out over the din of the running water. "I . . . I normally don't wash my hair after PE, so I didn't bring any . . ." Blaze explained.

Rouge smiled, relaxing a bit. "Oh, I can help with that."

Rouge turned and hurried out of the bathroom to her PE locker. She quickly pulled out two tubes, one with shampoo and the other with conditioner. She also produced a clean towel for Blaze to wrap her hair in. Rouge reentered the bathroom and went up to Amy.

"The scent is lavender," said Rouge. "It's an ultra-hydrating combo, so it should be good for Blaze's hair. Oh, and here's a towel for her hair."

Amy accepted the items and opened up the stall door to Blaze's shower. She deposited the items on the bench next to the shower curtain and then exited. A moment of silence and then a sniffle reached their ears.

"Thanks . . ." Blaze said.

"Of course," Rouge replied.

Julie-Su looked up at Rouge. "Any idea about her clothes?" My PE uniform won't fit her, Blaze left hers at home, and both Amy and Sally got waivers for 10th grade PE, so they don't have one."

Rouge thought for a moment. "She can try mine. I had PE earlier today, so they've been used, but it should be good."

Julie-Su, confused, asked, "You're a junior and taking PE?"

"Well, a PE elective," she explained. A cardio class. Oh! And I think I have something we can use to help stain-treat Blaze's clothes. They've got enzyme detergent in the athletic laundry rooms I can borrow."

Amy blinked. "Where they wash the football uniforms and stuff? You can do that?"

Rouge shrugged. "Dunno. But I know where it is if you want me to grab it."

Amy, Sally, and Julie-Su all looked at each other. "Sure," Sally said, and the other two nodded.

Rouge went back to her locker and retrieved her PE uniform and shoes. She handed them to Sally and happened to closely eye Blaze's clothes while doing so, which were a muddy mess of red, yellow, brown, and gray. They smelled like stale bathwater and a weird medley of room-temperature cafeteria food.

"Gross," remarked Rouge. "They smell horrid." She turned towards the shower. "I'm so sorry, Blaze!"

"It's . . . It's fine . . ." Blaze replied.

"Girl, it isn't. I'm so sorry this happened. We're gonna get everything fixed up." Rouge said, hoping that what she was saying would help Blaze feel better.

When Blaze didn't respond, Rouge straightened herself up. "I'll be back," she told the three girls. She then turned and left the locker room via a back entrance.

As Rouge made her way towards the storage and laundry room in the athletic wing, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch.

_Shit, I'm missing physics right now . . ._ _Whatever. It'll be fine._

Rouge found the laundry room relatively quick and tried the knob. Locked.

_Shit._

Rouge sighed and was about to make her way back to the gymnasium, defeated. Then Rouge remembered that Sonic had the code to bypass the electronic lock since he was the football team's captain. She sprinted back down the athletic wing and back around to the main gymnasium entrance, where she managed to catch Sonic before he left for whatever his next class was. She quickly explained what she needed it for, and he gave it to her. She then once again hurried back to the laundry room and punched in the code. The door unlocked, and she searched around for the detergent. After a couple minutes, her eyes fell upon a small plastic bag filled with white powder and a plastic scoop.

_Bingo._

Rouge picked up the bag and exited the laundry room, making her away back to the gymnasium. When she arrived, it was starting to fill up with students. She tried to discreetly make her way to the locker rooms again and then loitered by her locker, trying to blend in. Finally, the locker room emptied out, and Rouge made her way back to the adjoining bathroom. Amy, Sally, and Julie sat on a bench, looking awkward. The shower for Blaze was still running.

"Here," Rouge said. "They locked the laundry room. Had to get the code for the door." She placed the bag back on the bench next to Sally.

"Oh, nice," Sally replied, smiling.

Just then, the water shut off, and the four of them heard the sound of the shower curtain opening.

"Blaze? Girl, are you okay?" Amy asked.

Blaze took in a shaky breath. "Not really. I'm marginally better, but I'm not okay."

There were a couple minutes of silence, only punctuated by the sound of clothes rustling. Finally, Blaze emerged dressed in Rouge's PE uniform, hair in a turban, cheeks flushed from the hot water. The uniform was a touch too big, but it was definitely better than the alternative.

Immediately, Blaze's friends rushed forward into a group hug. Blaze hugged them all back.

"Th . . . thanks guys . . ." she said, her voice sad and tired.

She turned to look at Rouge. "And thanks . . . Rouge . . . I don't even know you. You didn't have to do . . . any of this."

Rouge held up her right hand. "I'm gonna stop you right there, Blaze. I did have to. You were ganged up on by a huge group of people, and any decent person would help you out. The fact only your friends helped you out shows everyone's true colors."

She wanted to hug Blaze but didn't. She continued. "You don't deserve anything that anyone is doing to you. I promise.

Blaze's eyes welled up again. "Th . . . Thanks . . ."

"Oh god," Amy said, gesturing for Blaze to sit on the bench next to her. Blaze put her face in her hands and started to cry again. All three of her friends sat next to her and comforted her.

"God, I don't want to attend class anymore today! I just can't do it!" she cried.

"Well," said Rouge. "You could always go to the nurse's office and claim you're sick."

Blaze sniffed. "I might do that . . ." she said, wiping away her tears.

Sally thought for a moment. "What could we tell the nurse that would make sense?"

"How bout a cold?" Amy suggested.

Julie-Su shook her head. "Good for the nurse, not for her parents. We just want her to leave for a day."

"Good point," Sally acknowledged. "Got any idea?"

Rouge tapped her chin. "What about a migraine? I've used that excuse, both legit and fake, to get out of many a class. They're brutal but usually go away in a day."

Amy laughed. "Blaze doesn't get headaches at all."

Blaze gave a small smile. "My aunt and uncle don't know that."

Julie-Su blinked. "Aunt and uncle? You live with them and not your parents?"

"Wait, I didn't tell you?" Blaze asked. Julie-Su shook her head.

"Is it . . . Cause of . . . Uh . . ." Julie-Su asked awkwardly, not entirely sure if she should ask the question she wanted to.

"Oh no, nothing like that!" Blaze said hurriedly, shaking her head. "My parents are working overseas, and they didn't want me to attend school where they work. They claim it's better here. That's all." She explained. Julie-Su nodded in understanding.

"Anyway," ushered Sally. "You could use the migraine excuse then."

Blaze nodded, then sighed. "Yeah, okay . . . I'll do that then." She sighed again, wiping the remaining tears from her eyes. She stood up and unwrapped her turban. "Crap, my hair is damp. That looks weird."

"Stand aside!" Rouge said dramatically. She sat down on a bench and gestured for Blaze to sit down next to her. Blaze slowly did so, and Rouge started to braid her hair.

"It'll be hard to tell if your hair is damp when it's braided up," she explained, her fingers quickly plaiting Blaze's hair.

Sally, Amy, and Julie-Su all stood up. "Well, we'll uh, start stain treating Blaze's clothes," suggested Amy. Rouge nodded, standing up, having finished the braid.

"I'll assist," she offered, picking up the detergent bag. She gestured, leading the girls over to a bathroom sink. Rouge dampened the clothes with water, sprinkled some detergent on her clothes, and started to vigorously rub them together, working the detergent into the clothes. After a couple minutes of rubbing, she rinsed the clothes off in the sink.

"Well, that should do it," she said, clapping her hands in a satisfied manner. "Here," she said, stuffing Blaze's clothes in her gym bag. "Take my bag, wash your clothes, bring everything back. That's all you need to do." She smiled.

"Thanks . . ." Blaze said, stunned that someone as popular as Rouge was as kind as she was.

"Of course, girl," Rouge said. "You deserve kindness."

Rouge turned to leave. "See ya later, girl. Feel better, and don't let this keep you down. You seem like a great person."

She turned and left the locker room.

Blaze and her friends turned to look at each other, all stunned at what just happened.

"She's . . . A lot nicer than she looks," commented Amy.

"Yeah," added Sally. "We'll have to thank her later for all she did."

Blaze nodded, exhausted but a bit cheered up. "Well, guess I'm gonna go home then." She slowly stood up and was once again wrapped by her friends into a big hug. She smiled slightly and sighed.

* * *

Rouge slipped quietly out of the locker room and then out of the gymnasium. She whipped out her phone and opened her messenger app to her conversation with Knuckles.

_**Rouge: hey, bb** _

_**Knuckles: hey beautiful, wassup?** _

_**Rouge: hun let's go to Mystical Melodies after school.** _

_**Knuckles: uh** _

_**Knuckles: whats the occasion** _

_**Rouge: its about Shadow. Hes goin on a date there w/ Selena after school today** _

_**Rouge: I found up whats up. They aren't actually dating** _

_**Rouge: hes fake dating her so that Blaze doesn't get bullied** _

_**Knuckles: Damn** _

_**Rouge: ya. I gotta get in on that** _

_**Rouge: I'll meet ya there at 3:30, right?** _

_**Knuckles: of course beautiful :3** _

Rouge smiled to herself. Her plan was simple: get in on the date, record it, leak it to the school. It was sure to cause a ruckus amongst the junior class and expose Selena as a backstabbing sociopath.

_Not anymore, Selena. Not anyFUCKINGmore. You are not gonna date him anymore. You think you can mess with my best friend? Think again bitch._

⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤ END ⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤


	12. Rushed Away

Rouge stepped out of her car and turned to face Knuckles' car, which was also pulling into the parking lot near Mystical Melodies Coffee. She watched it pull into a nearby spot and then watched Knuckles exit. When he did, he then walked over to her, arms outstretched. Rouge giggled and ran into them, hugging him. Knuckles kissed Rouge on her head in response.

"Hey beautiful," he said, hugging her back tightly. "What's the plan?"

Rouge looked up at him, grinned, and broke free from the hug. She reached into her purse and pulled out two pairs of sunglasses. She also gestured to a black hoodie and a laptop bag on her arm.

"Simple," she said. "We go in, order our drinks, blend in at the café, wait till 4 pm, and then watch and record our 'couple.'" She made air-quotes upon saying "couple." "We then wait for the inevitable tea to spill, record the convo, and then leak it to the school. Soon, the whole school is gonna know about Selena's bullshit."

Knuckles smiled, shaking his head. "Remind me to never get on your bad side, hun," he commented. Rouge gave a small laugh.

"I doubt that'll happen with my cutie," she said flirtatiously. Knuckles smiled and took her hand into his.

"Let's go then," he said. "Lead the way."

Rouge and Knuckles made their way to the front entrance of the café and went inside. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee and baked goods reached their noses. The coffee shop had a cozy atmosphere, with warm lighting and décor. Hand-painted murals of musical notes and bar lines made their way across the wood-paneled walls. Shelves holding custom mugs and glasses lined the walls, as did bags of various roasted beans, custom art pieces, and chalkboards containing daily specials and the menu. A showcase displayed assorted baked pastries, cake pops, cold bottled drinks, and deli sandwiches. A few other people were seated in the café, filling it with quiet chatter. Behind the counter stood a tall, peach echidna with various ear piercings and a nose ring. A shorter high-school-aged, silver hedgehog also stood behind the counter. Rouge recognized him as the sophomore that had been talking with Sonic outside of the girl's locker room earlier today.

Rouge and Knuckles made their way up to the counter, to which the girl greeted them. "Hi, how can I help you two today?" she asked.

Rouge stared up at the menu for a couple moments before stating her order. "Yeah, I'd like a medium caramel latte, hot, with whipped cream and an espresso shot. If you could also add a couple pumps of chocolate syrup as well, that'd be great. And what do you want, Knuckie? It's my treat."

Knuckles glanced up at the menus. "Uh . . . I'll just take a large berry lemonade," he told the barista. Rouge elbowed him. "Knuckie, seriously? You visit a coffee shop, and you get lemonade?" she teased. Knuckles rolled his eyes. "If they didn't want me to order it, why's it on the menu?" he jokingly challenged. Rouge giggled.

The girl behind the counter finished punching in their order, asked for a name, and rang them up. Rouge slid the cashier a twenty and dropped her change into the tip jar. The boy barista then went to work preparing their drinks, and Rouge and Knuckles found a small two-seater table at the front of the café, just out of view of the shop's front window. Rouge slid into the seat facing into the shop, produced her laptop from its bag, and slipped on her black hoodie.

"Now," she said. "We wait." She passed one of the pairs of sunglasses to Knuckles. "Since you're sitting facing the window, give me a heads up when you-know-who and Bitch arrive. They should be here around 4. Make sure you put on those sunglasses when you see them coming." Knuckles nodded in acknowledgment and took his seat.

The couple waited for a few minutes before she heard the boy barista call out Rouge's name, placing two drinks on the counter. Knuckles stood up and jokingly gave Rouge a small bow. "I shall fetch your drink, madame." Rouge giggled.

Knuckles retrieved their order at the counter and made his way back to the table, where he placed a warm beverage cup in front of Rouge and a light-yellow drink with dark violet swirls in front of his seat. Rouge took her drink into her hands, inhaled the warm scent of hot coffee and caramel, and took a small, cautious sip.

"Mmm," she said. "Why anyone would go to the Starbucks nearby instead of here is beyond me. The coffee here is actually good." Knuckles nodded, then laughed. "Hipster," he said, winking at her. Rouge stuck out her tongue at him. The two hung out for a bit, chatting about school, mild gossip, and about how cute the other was. Rouge was anxiously waiting the entire time for the so-called couple to show up. She needed to see what went down and was absolutely itching to get back at Selena for hurting Shadow.

She did eventually get lost in conversation with her boyfriend, however. But luckily, Knuckles remained vigilant. At almost precisely four o'clock, Knuckles tapped her hand and gestured with his head towards the front windows, slipping on his shades. Rouge quickly nodded, threw up her hoodie hood, slipped on her own sunglasses, and bent over her laptop, acting like she was engrossed in her desktop screen.

Moments later, in waltzed a peppy Selena, closely (and slowly) followed by a reluctant Shadow, hunched over slightly, still protecting his abdomen with his left arm. He quickly slumped into a table on the opposite side of the café. Rouge could practically hear Selena roll her eyes.

"Okay, whatever, be like that," Rouge heard her snark. She turned and marched up to the counter, where she started rapidly firing off what she wanted to the barista. Rouge and Knuckles made eye contact, and Rouge leaned in to whisper to Knuckles.

"Shit, I've noticed that Shadow's been looking sick all day, and it doesn't look like he's any better."

Knuckles quickly glanced at Shadow, slumped in his chair and looking nauseous. He turned back and whispered in response to Rouge. "Yeah, he does not look good. Think it's cause of Selena?"

Rouge shook her head. "No. He looks physically sick. Dammit, I texted him, asking if he was okay, and he left me on 'delivered.' He has a habit of stomaching through when he's sick, and he really shouldn't do that."

"Well, hopefully, he gets Selena sick with whatever he has," Knuckles commented. Rouge couldn't help but laugh but quickly cut it short to avoid drawing attention to herself.

Selena, having placed her order, sashayed back to her seat and started talking to Shadow. Shadow barely acknowledged her there, which made Selena even more ticked off. Rouge listened intently, phone primed and ready to record, but she couldn't make out anything of note.

"Order for Selena?" a male voice called out into the café. The boy barista placed two drinks, a cup of water, and a bag presumably containing various pastries on the pickup counter. Selena turned to Shadow and demanded, "Go get the order!" Shadow heavily sighed and slowly got up, looking especially sick as he did so. Rouge watched him intently as he slowly made his way up to the counter. He slowly took the order into his hands as the barista shot him a concerned look. Neither said anything.

Then, as Shadow was making his way back, he suddenly hunched all the way over, hollered in pain, and dropped the drinks on the ground. They broke open, spilling coffee and ice water everywhere. The pastry bag also fell on the ground, immediately soaking up the spilled liquids. Shadow dropped to his knees, doubled over, gasping in pain. The café all stopped and turned to look towards the sound of the commotion. Shadow then gagged, covered his mouth, and quickly dragged himself over to a nearby trashcan, where he proceeded to hoist himself up and vomit violently into it. The café gasped in shock, and some of the patrons started to get up to help. The baristas behind the counter looked stunned, with the echidna covering her mouth in shock. Selena silently watched the whole thing, horrified.

Rouge felt her heart drop. She had to abandon the plan.

"Shadow!"

She threw off her hood and shades and sprinted over to him, where he slumped back onto the floor, curling into a ball.

"R . . . Rouge?" he asked, his voice shaking. It sounded like it physically hurt him even more to speak. "W . . . What?"

"Crazy coincidence," Rouge quickly said. "Oh my god, dude, what happened?" She placed the back of her hand on his sweaty forehead and noticed he was burning up. "Oh god . . ." she said, feeling her throat dry up. She tried to gently coax Shadow to stand up, which made him flinch harder and yell in pain, coiling into an even tighter ball.

Shaking, Rouge reached into her purse and pulled out her phone, quickly dialing 911. When the operator picked up, she shakily said, "I'm at Mystical Melodies Coffee, near Northwest Avenue and Twin Oaks Boulevard. I need an ambulance right away!"

The entire café was now watching the whole thing unfold. A few people had started to record the event with their phones. An older, silvery hedgehog, presumably the coffee shop's owner, had come out from the back upon hearing the commotion. "Oh my god," Rouge heard her say while relaying information to emergency dispatch.

"Okay, we'll send an ambulance right away," the dispatcher told Rouge. "Dispatch, 11-41, 1407 Northwest. 902 Mary, condition unknown," she said to the emergency crew. To Rouge, she said, "Stay by the patient's side and see if you can get any information out of him. Ask him how long he's felt sick."

Rouge asked Shadow this, to which he responded, "L . . . Late . . . Last night . . . hurts to . . . talk. Like I'm being stabbed . . . "

Rouge, her voice quivering, told the dispatcher this. "Okay," Rouge heard her say calmly. "We're sending an EMS team to your location right now."

"Oh god, thank you," Rouge said. She glanced down at Shadow, who had tears in his eyes from the pain. "It's . . . It's gonna be okay, Shadow. An ambulance is on the way." Shadow didn't respond.

It felt like an hour before the ambulance arrived, but it was probably only about seven minutes before two EMTs came in through the shop door, bearing a stretcher. Rouge stood up as soon as they arrived, and they hurried over to her.

"He's curled himself into a ball, says it hurts to stand and talk," she relayed, feeling her eyes start to well up.

"Okay, thank you," said one of them. Both of the EMTs knelt down. "Okay, we know it hurts, but we need you to stand up so we can take you to the hospital," said the other one. Shadow flinched as the EMTs tried to coax him to stand up. When he only coiled tighter, the other gently took him by the shoulders and tried to uncurl him. He only curled up even tighter, groaning in pain. The two EMTs finally had to lift him to his feet carefully but forcefully, to which Shadow yelled in pain.

"Very sorry about this," said one of the EMTs, assisting him into the stretcher. Shadow started to hyperventilate from the pain, and Rouge felt a few tears escape her eyes. The other EMT grabbed his portable radio and spoke into it, "902 Henry, patient en route."

The two EMTs quickly started to wheel Shadow out of the café, and they were followed promptly by Rouge, who hurriedly explained to the EMTs that she was his best friend. Selena slowly got up and tried to follow them out to the ambulance. When Rouge noticed this, she turned and pushed Selena away.

"Beat it," she growled angrily. Selena looked highly offended.

"How dare you!" she shrieked. "He's my boyfriend!"

"And I'm his childhood best friend!" Rouge hollered back, furious at Selena's gall. "Fuck off! Take an Uber home!" She turned around and quickly clambered into the back of the ambulance. The EMTs quickly lifted Shadow into the ambulance behind her. Selena was red with fury but held her ground as the ambulance doors snapped shut. The engine roared to life, the flashing lights came on, and then it departed.

Once the ambulance was moving, Rouge quickly buckled her seatbelt and watched teary-eyed as the EMTs began to check Shadow's vitals.

"Temperature is 101.7, stable," the first said, dropping the used probe cover into a biowaste bin. The second, sphygmomanometer in hand, quickly recorded Shadow's blood pressure, which was slightly higher than usual. The first then looked at Shadow.

"I'm going to quickly do something called a rebound test," he told a grimacing Shadow. "It's most likely going to be painful," he warned, "But it will start to rule out what's going on." Shadow nodded ever so slightly and cringed, waiting for the pain. The EMT, using his fingers, pushed slowly down on the right side of Shadow's tender abdomen and quickly released it. Shadow let out an extremely loud yell of pain and shock. The EMT promptly did the same thing just above his navel, only to elicit the same results. Rouge was terrified; in all 10 years she had known Shadow, she had never seen him in as much pain as he was in right now.

"Write down probable acute abdomen with inflammation as the cause," he told the second and third EMTs. "Have the medical staff run an ultrasound or CT scan STAT. Could be peritonitis, appendicitis, intestinal blockage, maybe intussusception or hernia. Currently no signs of abscess or septicemia, but not yet ruled out."

The ambulance, about five minutes later, pulled up to the emergency room entrance. The doors opened, and three EMTs quickly lowered the stretcher out of the ambulance. Rouge shakily unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed down, hurrying after the EMTs as they rushed Shadow into the ER and down towards the examination rooms. Rouge stopped at ER reception and stood there shakily as she watched the EMTs rush Shadow down the hall.

"Have a seat, dear," the receptionist said. "We'll have any information out to you as soon as we get it." Rouge nodded, saying nothing, and robotically made her way over to the rows of ER seats. She sat down, her hand and legs shaking. Rouge tried to take a few deep breaths to steady herself, but it didn't really work. She drew her legs up to her chest and laid her head down on her knees, sighing.

Time seemed to pass immeasurably slow. She decided to message Shadow's mom, informing her of what happened. Eventually, a harried Knuckles showed up, almost immediately rushing over to where she was sitting. He sat next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Feeling his touch, Rouge started to cry. More time passed, and Shadow's parents, looking frazzled and worried, arrived at the ER, where the receptionist took them to wherever Shadow was being treated.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Rouge heard someone call her name. "Is there a Miss Rouge Stone here?"

Rouge looked up, and her eyes fell upon a tall duck in a white medical coat, carrying a clipboard. She stood up and shook the doctor's hand.

"Hi Miss Stone, I'm Dr. Quack. I oversaw the treatment of Shadow."

"How's he doing? Is he okay? Do you know what's wrong with him?" Rouge asked hurriedly.

The doctor gave Rouge a sympathetic smile. He looked down at his clipboard. "Well, we ran some tests and scans on Mr. Shadow. We've determined that he has appendicitis."

Rouge blinked. She had heard about appendicitis but wasn't exactly sure how serious it was.

"His appendix was extremely swollen and inflamed on the ultrasound, and his white blood cell count was too high for the medical team's comfort. Luckily, you called for an ambulance when you did. Another hour or so, and it probably would have ruptured, which could have caused a life-threatening infection."

"So . . . What's gonna happen to him?" Rouge asked nervously.

"The only treatment for appendicitis is surgery to remove the appendix," the doctor explained. "We've got him on some medications for his pain, and we're prepping him for emergency surgery as we speak. Don't fret," he said in response to a worried Rouge. "Appendectomies are very simple nowadays. We'll do what's called laparoscopic surgery, which means we'll use a minimal incision and a small camera to assist with the surgery. It shouldn't take more than an hour from start to finish. It's very low-risk, and the recovery time is usually no more than 48 hours in the hospital."

"How . . . How did this happen?" Rouge asked quietly, reeling from the doctor's news.

"Well, appendicitis is random," he told her. "Sometimes, it just happens. There usually isn't any specific or underlying cause. But appendicitis at this stage is easily treatable. Your friend is going to be okay."

Rouge breathed a sigh of relief, many of her fears assuaged by the doctor's words.

Dr. Quack turned back. "Feel free to wait here, or you may leave, whichever you prefer."

"I think I'll stay here until his surgery is done," she told the doctor.

Dr. Quack nodded. "Very well. I'll have someone bring you the results as soon as the surgery is finished." He then left.

Rouge sat back down and was greeted with another side hug from Knuckles. "At least it's not anything serious, right?" he said.

Rouge nodded, exhausted.

Another slow, painful hour passed. Rouge watched the emergency room idly. A few people came in and out, but nothing exciting happened. Rouge ended up nodding off on Knuckles' shoulder after a while. Finally, she felt Knuckles shaking her awake. Rouge stirred, feeling groggy. She looked up and made eye contact with a nurse.

"Hi Miss Stone," she began. "I just wanted to inform you that Shadow's surgery was a success. He's currently in post-op recovery."

Rouge exhaled, the stress leaving her body. "May I see him?" she asked.

"Sorry, not while he's in post-op," the nurse told her. "Only his parents are allowed with him right now." She looked at Rouge, who was visibly exhausted. "I'd advise you to go home and get some rest," she said. "You may be able to see him tomorrow during visiting hours."

Rouge sighed. "Okay, thank you." The nurse turned and left the ER waiting area.

Rouge turned back to Knuckles, who stood up. "C'mon, I'll take you back to Mystical Melodies to get your car," he offered. Rouge took his hand, soaking up its warmth, and walked with Knuckles out of the ER.

* * *

Silver, Tikal, and the café's customers stared in disbelief at the scene that had just unfolded. Just as soon as they had arrived, Shadow, the girl that had attended to him, and the EMTs left.

Silver's mother shook her head. "That poor young man. I hope everything turns out okay."

She gave a stressed sigh and looked at her children. "Please, you two, clean up everything, will you?" Silver and Tikal nodded in agreement, still shocked about everything that had happened. Tikal hurried to the back, grabbed a mop and bucket, and quickly started to mop up the spilled drinks. Silver reluctantly grabbed a pair of gloves and emptied the trashcan Shadow had vomited into, doing his best to keep his eyes off the bag.

Once he had disposed of it and replaced the bag, he grabbed a bucket of sanitizing water and wiped down the rim of the can. Once that was done, both Tikal and Silver resumed their spots behind the counter.

A while later, and most of the customers that were there during the fiasco had left. The café went into its dinner quiet (the café never got too many customers after 4:30). Silver leaned against the counter, head in his hands.

"Woah, bro, you good?" Tikal asked, emerging from the back with a dish bucket of clean dishes. Silver shook his head. "Not particularly," he responded.

"What happened?" Tikal probed. "Besides, well, _that_."

Silver heaved a heavy sigh and spilled what else had happened that day, specifically about how the popular students at school had cruelly pranked Blaze at lunch. Tikal listened, her eyes getting bigger and bigger, and Silver went into more detail about the events that had happened.

"Holy _shit_!" was Tikal's only response. "No wonder you look beat down."

Silver felt himself get angry all over again. "They're the fucking WORST!" he yelled. "They harass her for no reason, and it feels like I can't do anything to stop them!"

Tikal sighed and patted her younger brother on the back. "I'm so sorry, dude," she said. "And tell Blaze I'm sorry that happened to her as well."

Silver sighed, trying to flush the anger out of his body. He shook his head and continued working, trying to forget about today. It didn't really work, and he was on edge for the rest of his shift.

Finally, the shop closed at 6 pm. While Tikal disappeared into the back to start closing up, Silver reached into his back pocket to check his phone. He saw a text from Blaze and then realized he should probably tell her what happened.

He sighed, leaned back against the front counter, opened his messenger app, and typed out a message to Blaze.

* * *

It had been easier than expected to fake a migraine. According to Sally, all Blaze had to do was act like her head was about to explode and act sensitively to light and sound. She had successfully convinced the nurse she was in pain and got to lie down in the nurse's office until her uncle could come pick her up. On the way back, her uncle asked her why she was in her PE uniform, and she quickly explained she had been in PE, which wasn't a complete lie.

Once home, her uncle handed her an Excedrin for migraines (Blaze pocketed this instead of taking it when her uncle wasn't looking) and had her head up to her room. There, she drew her curtains shut and pretended to curl up in bed. Once she was sure her uncle had left, she sat up again and rubbed her eyes.

_Yuck_ , she said to herself. _I feel like I need another shower after all that._

Trying her best to block out the memories of what had happened to her out, she headed downstairs, tossed her dirty clothes into the washing machine, and then headed up to her bathroom to shower again. Once she was done, she slipped into a pair of pajamas and headed downstairs to her family room. She curled up in a fuzzy blanket and turned on the TV. She put on her favorite TV show at the moment but couldn't focus on any of it.

She kept checking her phone. Nothing interesting. All her friends were busy, and both her aunt and uncle were going to be home late. She sighed, letting the sound of the TV wash over her as she tried and failed to push the hurt and humiliation out of her chest.

Finally, something interesting happened. A text from Silver popped up on her phone. Her eyes went wide as she read it. Silver detailed how he watched as Shadow was carried out on a stretcher after collapsing in pain at Silver's work. She didn't even know what to think, and despite her wanting to hold a grudge against him couldn't help but feel bad for him.

She sighed, looking up at the ceiling. She was done with today.

⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤ END ⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! This is a work in progress! More chapters will be updated soon. Thank you for reading!


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